Sport
8 March, 2024
Tangela Bale faces tough task
Tangela Bale qualified fastest for tonight's Horsham Cup but has drawn awkwardly out of a squeeze box in box five.
Trained by Robert Camilleri out of Lara, the bitch has raced 35 times and has an excellent strike rate of 15 wins, 7 seconds and 5 thirds.
She is the only female in the final and was easily the fastest qualifier with a time of 26.74s over the 485m.
Handler Ricky Coleman said the draw isn't ideal, and they are not going in with any expectations.
"We would have preferred box two or eight, but it is what it is, you can't do anything about it," Coleman said.
"We will go into the race with no expectations. When you go in with expectations you get disappointed. The only expectation we would have is for her to come out of the race safely.
"She won an Australian Cup Heat and in the semi-finals she jumped and led and got unlucky on the corner and she has raced in a couple of feature races, so she is prepared in that regard."
Jason Thompson from Pearcedale is chasing a fifth Horsham Cup win and he has two dogs, Explicit and Verdi with Explicit being the current race favourite jumping from box eight and Verdi, the fourth favourite jumping from box four. Explicit is touted in greyhound circles as the 'next big thing'.
Funny Old Fella, drawn box two is the reigning Waterloo Cup winner and is not without a chance, especially if the favourites get in early trouble.
Nature Strip, out of box one is named after the famous horse and he was strong in his heat. If he gets clear air early and leads he could be very hard to run down.
War Time Novelty runs from box six and is trained in the Shepparton region (Coomboona) by little-known Gavin Gledhill. This will be his first group final at start 87.
Shima Shadow, trained by Thomas Dailly, runs from box seven and could get a good cart into the race from Explicit which puts him in contention.
Grand Tourer, out of box three is the outsider in the field. He is bred, owned and trained in the Warrnambool region, making him the only finalist with genuinely strong ties to Victoria's far west.
Despite being drawn poorly, the Horsham Times tips Tangela Bale to overtake race leader Nature Strip in the closing 100 metres with Explicit finishing in third with Funny Old Fellow in fourth.