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  • Friday, 03 Sep, 2021,
  • by Gerard Guthrie

Crown Prince eyes Healesville throne

After just two starts, precocious youngster Dynamic Prince will take his place in Sunday’s G2 Healesville Cup heats (350m), with the 19-month-old’s opposition including one of the best sprinters in the land, Tiggerlong Tonk.

Underlying the monumental task confronting the unbeaten Dynamic Prince, which only debuted last Friday (August 27), Tiggerlong Tonk has won 41 of his 87 starts, including two G1 victories, since starting his career back on August 30, 2019.

Catapulting Dynamic Prince into elite company is not a decision astute Devon Meadows trainer Peter Presutto made lightly, but he’s subscribing to the theory that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

“You’ve got to aim high, and boy am I what!” Presutto quipped.

“He’s very young and he’s only had two starts for two wins but he’s definitely got the ability.

“I haven’t done this before and it’s one of those situations where you’ll be a genius if it works out and a fool if it doesn’t.

“But it’s a long time until next year and I didn’t want to be sitting here in two weeks second-guessing whether we should have had a go. You’ve got to have a crack!”

At the time of nominating for Sunday’s heats, Dynamic Prince had raced only once, for a 25.56sec Maiden success at Ballarat.

The January 2020 son of Dyna Double One and Peta Pitstop then ventured to Healesville on Thursday where he started $1.60 favourite in a Restricted (1-3 Wins) event, needing to win impressively to confirm his Cup challenge.

Dynamic Prince did just that, powering clear in the closing stages to score by an ever-increasing 4.3 lengths in a smart 19.14sec.

“If he hadn’t gone well today (Thursday) I wouldn’t have risked him in the heats, but I was happy with his run and I’m expecting him to improve,” Presutto said.

WATCH: Youngster Dynamic Prince (5) earns a crack at Sunday’s G2 Healesville Cup heats with an eye-catching 19.14sec victory on Thursday at just his second start.

“To be honest, he could easily break 19 seconds, which is good enough to be there.

“He’d been to Healesville a couple of times before but that was his first time out of the boxes. I’d only slipped him and both times he’d been there he’s gone quicker than the good dogs Nat (wife) and I have. He left them standing.

“Because it was his first time out of the boxes, he should find a bit at the start. He was green too; I think he was trying too hard. But the turn of foot is there and the strength is there.

“I wouldn’t have considered it if was a two-turn race but being a straight track it should be a cleaner and fairer race for him. I also think he’s the sort of dog that will perform better racing against better dogs.”

Dynamic Prince will be conceding both age and experience – and plenty of both – to all his rivals in the first of Sunday’s six heats, most notably Tiggerlong Tonk, beaten favourite in last year’s Healesville Cup final, and Dream Wizard, a three-time country cups finalist in 2021.

Drawn in box three, Dynamic Prince is a $26 outsider in TAB’s market, with Tiggerlong Tonk (Box 7) a dominant $1.65 favourite, ahead of Dream Wizard (Box 1) at $3.30.

“Tiggerlong Tonk has been a ripper of a dog,” Presutto said.

“Tiggerlong Tonk and ‘Max’ (Dynamic Prince) are both by Dyna Double One so it would be nice if Dynamic Prince can assert his superiority and Tiggerlong Tonk hands over the mantle on Sunday!

“I know it’s not going to be easy, but the main thing is that he gets around safely and I’m sure the experience will do him the world of good.”

Gerard GuthrieGerard Guthrie

Gerard Guthrie

One of Australia’s leading greyhound racing journalists since 2000 with the Greyhound Recorder and now with Greyhound Racing Victoria. Part-owner 2013 Group 1 Paws Of Thunder winner Sheikha. (The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of GRV)

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