Champion Pearcedale trainer Jason Thompson is eyeing an incredible sixth Silver Chief triumph!
Quite aptly, it’s with a greyhound bestowed the racing moniker Triumph (Box 7) in the MGRA’s flagship age-restricted all-male $157,875 Group 1 Sportsbet Silver Chief Final (525m) – Race 8, 9.04pm – at The Meadows on Saturday night.
KEY TIMES
6:37pm First race
8:01pm Race 5 (First leg of Quaddie)
9:04pm $157,875 Group 1 Sportsbet Silver Chief Final (Race 8)
10:31pm Last race (Race 12)
Triumph (29.83sec) was the third fastest of eight heat winners but if triumphant in the $100,000 to-the-winner final, at his current odds of $31, he’d be Thompson’s longest-priced winner of the event. (His 2012 Silver Chief winner, Godsend, returned $15.50.)
One of three males in a litter of nine, the superbly bred Triumph (Oct ’20 Zambora Brockie x Segovia) has raced on 26 occasions for eight wins.
He displayed his class, and natural stamina, reaching the Group 1 Hume Cup Final (600m) at The Meadows early last month. He also was a finalist in the Listed Pink Diamond Maiden Sprinter (450m) at Ballarat – at only his third start – back in mid-June.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
– Watch the racing LIVE and FREE on the Watchdog App
– Behind-the-scenes insights on GRV Facebook, @WatchDogRacing Twitter and @greyhoundracingvic Instagram
– Regular updates with Trent Langskaill on RSN Racing and Sport (927 AM)
Meanwhile, the two fastest Silver Chief qualifiers – Amron Boy (Box 3) and Rejuvenate (Box 2) – are $2.40 and $2.50 respectively on Sportsbet’s fixed odds market.
Now a triple Group 1 finalist, Amron Boy clocked a scintillating 29.45sec heat win – saluting by 11.8 lengths. It was only one length off The Meadows 525m track record set by Allen Deed (29.38sec) on January 3, 2015.
At his previous start, he was gallant in defeat to ‘wonder woman’ Wow She’s Fast in the Sportsbet Showdown – a two-dog match race – on Melbourne Cup night.
And ‘new kid on the block’ Rejuvenate was only ‘whiskers’ behind him, semaphoring a sizzling 29.47sec heat win – scoring by 10.7 lengths. It was the 10th win from 12 starts for last month’s Group 3 Northern Districts Cup winner.
POINTS OF INTEREST
FAB FIVE
Jason Thompson’s successful Silver Chief ‘quintet’ is Light Of Fire (1994), Awesome Assassin (1996), Ben’s Fury (2005), Fedex (2009) and Godsend (2012).OUT OF THIS WORLD
Thompson’s wife, Seona, claimed the 2018 Silver Chief with Out Of Range.LITTLE BRITTON
Anakie trainer Jeff Britton, who trains Scofflaw, finished runner-up with Tyler Durden in the 2021 Silver Chief. His older brother, Robert, won the 2015 Silver Chief with Above All.SAFER LANDYN?
Balliang trainer Mark Delbridge, who trains Landyn Bale, finished runner-up with Allen Makoto in the 2015 Silver Chief.JUST WILD ABOUT AMRON
Lara trainer Brooke Ennis will rug litter brothers Amron Boy and Amron Dan in Saturday night’s final. Ennis won the 2019 Silver Chief with Barooga Brett.2022 SILVER CHIEF VERSION 2
This will be the second edition of the Silver Chief for 2022. Zippy Tesla won the first edition on January 1.
Group 1 SPORTSBET SILVER CHIEF (525m)
The Meadows Race 8, Saturday 9:04pm
Total prizemoney $157,875 (First prize $100,000)
1 LANDYN BALE (Mark Delbridge, Balliang VIC)
2 REJUVENATE (Ian Brown, Loch VIC) 📷
3 AMRON BOY (Brooke Ennis, Lara VIC)
4 AMRON DAN (Brooke Ennis, Lara VIC)
5 SCOFFLAW (Jeff Britton, Anakie VIC)
6 FALSE CONFIDENCE (Aaron Debattista, Toolleen VIC)
7 TRIUMPH (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale VIC)
8 EULER BALE (Deborah Coleman, Lara VIC)
Reserves
9 SHOWMAN JACK SCRATCHED
10 TINKER NORM SCRATCHED
Click HERE for Sportsbet’s latest market on the Sportsbet Silver Chief Final
SPORTSBET SILVER CHIEF HEAT WINNERS
Saturday 3 December
(fastest to slowest)
29.45sec AMRON BOY 📷
29.47sec REJUVENATE
29.83sec TRIUMPH
29.83sec SCOFFLAW
29.86sec EULER BALE
29.92sec FALSE CONFIDENCE
30.06sec LANDYN BALE
30.19sec AMRON DAN
RECENT SILVER CHIEF WINNERS
2013 RENEGADE CHIEF (Kel Greenough, Pearcedale VIC)
2014 OLLIE BALE (Andrea Dailly, Anakie VIC)
2015 ABOVE ALL (Robert Britton, Lara VIC)
2016 MIDWINTER (Andrew Stewart, Melton VIC)
2017 LIGHTNING FRANK (Mathew Wright, Wangoom VIC)
2018 OUT OF RANGE (Seona Thompson, Pearcedale VIC)
2019 BAROOGA BRETT (Brooke Ennis, Lara VIC)
2020 SIMON TOLD HELEN (David Burnett, Little River VIC)
2021 LAKEVIEW WALTER (Monique Whelan, Metung VIC)
2022 ZIPPY TESLA (Andrea Dailly, Anakie VIC) [JAN] 📷
Peter Quilty has more than three decades of experience as assistant editor of Victorian Greyhound Weekly. He was editor of GRV monthly magazine The Adviser (2001-09) and owner/publisher of Australian Greyhound Monthly. He also served on the selection panel for the inaugural GRV ‘Hall of Fame’ inductees and for several years was an adjudicator on the Victorian GOTY. He’s also published greyhound racing yearbooks and wrote the ‘Bold Trease’ video script.
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