Aston Rupee stormed to the top of the Speed Star standings with the fastest trial ever run at Sandown Park.
The Glenn Rounds trained speedster set up his phenomenal time with a slick 5.05 first split before running 18.54 to the second mark and stopping the clock at a brilliant 28.927 – just 0.018 seconds outside of Hard Style Rico’s track record.
It was Aston Rupee’s first 515m run since he finished second to Kuro Kismet in the Launching Pad in early April, during which he ran no faster than 5.16 to the first mark across the three week series. However, the impressive early speed displayed in today’s trial came as no surprise to Rounds.
“He’s a phenomenal dog,” he said.
“He ran 4.97 (to the first mark) in his first ever trial here so he can get down in those times. The Launching Pad was a rough series for him so we gave him a let up and he’s got himself back together.
“Ray (Borda, owner) would be very happy because I know he loves this concept and it is good for the dog.”
His time displaced Shima Shine from top place in the standings and is now all but guaranteed top position on the standings for the June 2nd match race series.
Earlier in the day, Cash Stack made his first official appearance at Sandown Park, running 33.945 and moving into 6th place in the Racecallers 595m standings. Four other greyhounds trialled but were unable to move into the top 10 of their respective series, including Mr Speaker (34.102, 18th), Kuro Kismet (29.227, didn’t improve on existing 29.184), Line Of Quality (41.927, 15th) and Fractured (29.340, unplaced).
The final opportunity for greyhounds to qualify for the Speed Star comes on RSN Sandown Cup night on Thursday 27th May. Star New South Wales sprinter Wow is currently booked to trial between races.
Click here for conditions, current standings and previous trials
