“He was a bit rung rusty, not having raced for a while, but I thought his heat run was a lot better, even though it was a field of six.
“He lost two or three lengths on the first corner and if you take that into account he’s probably gone second quickest to Shima Shine.
“There’s definitely improvement in him and come Saturday, he shouldn’t be far off.”
Ennis believes Jim Zarr Dashian is ideally drawn in two for the Cup final but concedes that so too is Shima Shine, which won his heat in a new course record time of 26.79sec.
“It’s probably a perfect draw for us in that the dog in ‘three’ (Aussie Secret) uses the track and has good pace,” Ennis said.
“That’s probably the key to the race for Jim Zarr Dashian. If the ‘three’ uses the track early that should give ‘Jim’ and Jax Bale (Box 1) a good run to the first mark.
“Shima Shine is also drawn beautifully in ‘seven’ with the ‘six’ (Aston Cade) and ‘eight’ (Fabriola Zad) being slow early.
“I’d be rapt to run second to Shima Shine and with the improvement in Jim Zarr Dashian I think that’s realistic. If something was to go wrong with Shima Shine then he’s probably a realistic winning chance.”
Jim Zarr Dashian has always shown group race ability, running a breathtaking 29.02sec at Sandown Park at just his fifth start and breaking the Bendigo 425m record at start 14 last April.
“He does have good ability but has a couple of issues in that he plays up badly in the kennels on race night and he lacks early pace,” Ennis explained.
“That’s the difference when it comes to group races.
“With the (Western Festival of Racing) Cup series, after Horsham there’s Ballarat, Geelong and Warrnambool Cups leading into a (Group 1) Harrison-Dawson.
“The Golden Easter Egg is also coming up but I think I’ve been to Wenty enough times to know you need early speed there. Jim Zarr Dashian lacks the first split speed to win an Easter Egg and we’ve got these other good races in our own backyard.”
