Myrniong trainer Anthony Azzopardi has qualified a dog for the world’s richest greyhound race.
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Azzopardi’s Raw Ability will line up in the final of the $600,000 Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park next Friday night.
The two-year-old chaser booked his place in the race with a brilliant heat victory last Friday.
Raw Ability, who won the group 1 Adelaide Cup in October, triumphed in a time of 29.20sec, which was the second fastest of the eight heats.
His victory was set up by a blistering 4.95sec opening split.
Azzopardi described the performance as the best of the dog’s career.
“Fair dinkum, when he jumped like that and I looked at that 4.95, I was thinking they are going to have a hard time catching him now,” he said.
“The dog has been going so good. Since the Adelaide Cup, he just took another step.”
Despite Raw Ability’s recent good form, Azzopardi said he had some concerns leading into the Melbourne Cup heats.
“I was real worried because I trialled him on Saturday at Ballarat and he ran 22.39sec and I went home like someone stole something so precious to me,” he said.
“I thought there was something wrong with him, but I had a quick look at him and worked him at home and that’s the result – 29.20sec.”
Raw Ability has drawn box four for the final and is rated a $7 chance by the TAB.
The son of Barcia Bale has won 14 of his 28 starts – including the first four of his racing career – for close to $140,000 in prizemoney.
The Seona Thompson-trained Aston Dee Bee was the fastest heat winner and is the $2.50 favourite for the final.