How many trainers would hand over an enormously talented homebred greyhound after five straight wins and on the eve of a lucrative feature race?
The short answer is very few.
However, Scott James, owner, breeder, and original trainer of All Spritzed Up, Sportsbet’s $2 favourite for the $70,335 Group 3 Great Chase Final (525m) at The Meadows on Wednesday afternoon, did just that.
After reeling off four successive middle distance victories at The Meadows and Sandown Park, followed by a Sandown 515m success (29.74sec), All Spritzed Up was transferred to leading trainer Anthony Azzopardi.
“It does hurt, but I’ve got no regrets at all,” said James, who’s employed as curator at Ballarat GRC.
“With a full-time job, I can’t give him the opportunities that Anthony can.
“I could’ve just kept putting him around Sandown and The Meadows and he’d be a good FFA dog at both tracks, but I think he’s better than that.
“I’m all about the dog and I just want to see him do the best he can. I can’t thank Anthony enough for taking him.
“Anthony turned up to trial at Ballarat one day and I wrote down All Spritzed Up’s name and said to have a look and see what he reckoned. He watched a couple of replays and said to me he’d be mad not to take him!
“The funny thing is that I wouldn’t have even thought about the Great Chase. I would’ve been looking for a 3-6 wins race over 600m!”
WATCH: ALL SPRITZED UP (B1) was easily the fastest of the six G3 Great Chase semi-final winners at The Meadows last Wednesday, careering away in a BOD 29.78sec in wet conditions.
In a twist of fate, All Spritzed Up’s winning streak came to an end at his first start for Azzopardi, when a close second in a Great Chase heat at Sandown.
“I haven’t ribbed Anthony yet about breaking my picket fence!” James quipped.
But that blip on the radar was quickly forgotten when the son of former NSW star Ritza Lenny and All Dolled Up bounced back immediately – and impressively – in last Wednesday’s Great Chase semi-finals.
All Spritzed Up was a runaway 29.78sec winner, almost seven lengths faster than the second quickest winner, Elite Alex, trained by Mark Delbridge, which clocked 30.25sec.
Click HERE for Sportsbet’s latest Great Chase market
All Spritzed Up (Box 3) heads into Wednesday afternoon’s $47,000 to-the-winner Great Chase Final – Race 8 at 2.06pm – with six wins and two seconds from his nine starts, including six of his last seven, and unbeaten in three starts at The Meadows.
“It’s a bit surreal, to be honest,” James said.
“It’s his race to lose!
“His win last week was unbelievable. I was stunned after the race, when I saw his time and then all the other times.
“He just needs to get a position going around the first turn. If he’s somewhere near the lead early, he’ll run over the top of them down the back. He’s so quick mid-race.”
There’s no fluke about James’ first runner in a Group event, with All Spritzed Up the result of a meticulous breeding project.
“We bought his mum (All Dolled Up) just to breed with,” he explained.
“Her mother (Brook’s Doll) threw Ando’s Mac, which won the (2016) Melbourne Cup. All Dolled Up (4 wins from 16 starts) could run but she had a couple of falls, and I wasn’t going to risk losing her.
“This is All Dolled Up’s first litter, and she’s had a second litter to Fernando Bale that’s four months old.
“There was ten in the Ritza Lenny litter. I’ve got five and there’s five in NSW. One of them called Black Abbott was bought by the Punters HQ Syndicate before he’d raced, and he’s had two starts for two wins at Goulburn for Andy Lord.”
