Moraine Suzie – a Bold Trease finalist for the second successive year – with trainer Brendan Pursell 📷 Clint Anderson
From an astute $2000 purchase after her 12th race start to reigning Victorian Stayer of the Year.
The meteoric progression of Moraine Suzie is simply a greyhound racing fairy tale.
Her Warrnambool owner, Peter Byrne, thought Moraine Suzie may get over more ground based on her breeding and his ‘crystal ball gazing’ has developed into a Nostradamus-like prognostication.
Following the ‘bargain basement’ buy, Moraine Suzie was transferred to Lara trainer Brendan Pursell.
A dour, come-from-behind stayer,Moraine Suzie has won 17 races – including the 2022 Group 1 Topgun Stayers and 2023 Listed Pink Diamond Champion Distance – from 54 starts and amassed $333,445 in stakes.
She was runner-up in the 2023 G1 Zoom Top and 2023 Topgun Stayers and third in the 2022 G1 National Distance Championship. And she now lines up for a seventh G1 final.
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WATCH: “Moraine Suzie is absolutely roaring home!” MORAINE SUZIE (B2) comes from the clouds to clock the fastest Bold Trease heat time of 41.69sec.
The real-life fantasy continues when Moraine Suzie competes for a $105,000 first prize in the $165,500 G1 Sportsbet Bold Trease (715m) – Race 8, 9.00pm – at Sandown Park on Saturday night.
Moraine Suzie – a finalist in the 2022 Bold Trease – was the fastest heat winner last week in 41.69sec.
She’ll exit box four, from which she’s unbeaten in four starts, in the final and is Sportsbet’s $3.80 second elect in the fixed odds market headed by Zoha Bale ($2.50).
“She likes to do what she wants to do,” Pursell said. “She’s got a mind of her own and has lost the confidence to push early.
Barnstorming Moraine Suzie sets the time standard in a Bold Trease heat 📷 Clint Anderson
“She was showing more early pace a year ago but has got into a habit of dropping back in her races. We’ve just got to live with it, I just shut my eyes now!”
However, Pursell is confident about Moraine Suzie’s chances in the final.
“I don’t worry about box draws with her anymore because of her racing pattern.
“She just has to get a run through and if she’s four-to-five lengths off them with 250 metres to go, she’ll give it a shake!”
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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