Mark Delbridge isn’t as confident as TAB in Christo Bale’s chances to take out his second Group race over the middle distance on Monday night at The Meadows.
Drawn box eight in the Group 1 Hume Cup, the opening leg of the Metro Festival of Racing, TAB have opened Christo Bale as the $3.50 second elect behind Last Hurrah.
“I think he has no hope of winning this one,” trainer Mark Delbridge said.
“There is a lot of pace on the inside of the track and I think that he will be held wide from box eight.”
Christo Bale won the Group 2 McKenna Memorial at Sandown Park over the 595m in July from box three.
“He will have to improve off his run in the heats last week but saying that he didn’t go in with the best preparation,” Delbridge said.
“I wanted him to have a 500 (race) before the Hume Cup heat but I wasn’t 100 percent happy with him so he went in fresh which means there is room for improvement.”
Christo Bale finished second behind front runner Zero Cool in the heats last week.
The Group 1 Hume Cup is worth $75,000 to the winner, victory for Christo Bale would see his prize money skyrocket to just shy of $200,000.
On Tuesday night during Sky Racing’s The Catching Pen, Christo Bale was named one of the eight greyhounds who will compete in the Group 1 Topgun at The Meadows on Saturday 7 November.
HEAT WINNERS
Zipping Zeek 34.10sec (Best)
Last Hurrah 34.15sec
Zero Cool 34.26sec
Big Jo 34.57sec
GROUP 1 HUME CUP FINAL (600M)
The Meadows – Monday night, 2 November
First prize – $75,000
1 ZERO COOL (Michelle Nolan, Devon Meadows)
2 FABRIOLA ZAD (Andrea Dailly, Anakie)
3 LAST HURRAH (Brett Nye, Little River)
4 BIG JO (Kayla Cottrell, Pearcedale) Scratched
5 MEPUNGA MAGGIE (Jeff Britton, Anakie)
6 MALAYAH BALE (Andrea Dailly, Anakie)
7 ZIPPING ZEEK (Ned McDonald, Cranbourne South)
8 CHRISTO BALE (Mark Delbridge, Balliang)
Reserves
9 HERE’S TEARS (Robert Britton, Lara)
10 WEBLEC ACE (Jeff Britton, Anakie)
WATCH: Christo Bale (box five) finish second to Zero Cool (box three) in their Hume Cup heat at The Meadows.
