The ‘Jungle drums’ were beating in the $74,335 Group 2 Sportsbet Horsham Cup (485m) on Friday night.
Aptly, it was Jungle Panther – trained at Fyansford by Jeff Geall – which ‘stalked’ his rivals in the $47,000 to-the-winner event.
Jungle Panther ($6.40) produced a withering finishing speed to defeat reserve runner Aston Lira ($13.20) by 2.5L, with Matt’s Hope ($4.90) a further 1L away third in 27.06sec.
“To say he deserved to win a big race like the Horsham Cup
is an understatement.”
It was an amazing starting price given his penchant for the Wimmera circuit and the fact he was the fastest heat winner (26.83sec) last week.
Jungle Panther (Mar ’20 Barcia Bale x Up Hill Jill) – a younger half-brother of 2021 G1 Melbourne Cup hero, Koblenz – notched his 26th win from 63 starts, including seven wins from eight starts over 485m at Horsham.
A finalist in the G2 Bulli Gold Cup in February, Jungle Panther catapulted his stakes to $165,370.
He joined 2019 Horsham Cup winner Orson Allen, which holds the race record (26.87sec), as the only greyhounds to win the event from box five in the past decade.
“To say he deserved to win a big race like the Horsham Cup is an understatement,” an ecstatic Geall said.
“He missed the start but it was actually a blessing because it meant he avoided interference from the eight (Matt’s Hope), who crashed to the rail.
“I did write Jungle Panther off when he missed the start, but then I saw he was in the clear and I knew he could find another gear because his run-home times are pretty strong.
“I’m not sure where I’ll set him for next, but I’ll be doing some box work with him because if I can get him jumping better he might be able to win another nice race.”
The other feature race winners on Horsham Cup night were:
Jan Wilson Memorial (485m) – XYLUS BALE ($11.90) – 27.45sec (T: Andrea Gurry)
Sportsbet Horsham Cup Consolation (485m) – TIGER TIME ($8.60) – 27.17sec (T: Alan Croxford)
Sylvia Penny Memorial (410m) – DR. FALKOR ($1.20F) – 23.35sec (T: Robert Tartaglia)
WATCH: Sleek speedster JUNGLE PANTHER (B5) was ‘cheetah-like’ in the Horsham Cup.
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.
James Van de Maat previews Saturday night at The Meadows.
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