Leading trainer Jeff Britton rates Do It as the best chance of his and partner Angela Langton’s imposing seven-strong raiding party heading to Angle Park for Thursday night’s Group 1 TAB Adelaide Cup heats.
Britton, who won the Adelaide Cup in 2011 with Mepunga Nicky, and Langton will have runners in each of the six heats.
Their seven Cup contenders, in race order, are; Mepunga Warrior (heat 1, box 8), Weblec Jet (heat 2, box 7), Keep It Black (heat 3, box 1), Mr. Fix It (heat 4, box 3), Weblec Blazer (heat 4, box 4), Do It (heat 5, box 1) and Tyler Durden (heat 6, box 2).
All gained experience at the newly revamped Angle Park 530m circuit last Thursday in either the Match Race Challenge, won by superstar Aston Rupee, to gain automatic entry into next Friday’s Cup Final (October 8), other races or trials.
Weblec Blazer won his match race in 30.15sec to run second overall to Aston Rupee (29.95sec), while Weblec Jet’s 30.32sec match victory saw him finish in fourth place.
Keep It Black’s 30.31sec trial was the quickest of the Anakie kennel’s Cup aspirants, with little separating Mr. Fix It (30.44sec), Do It (30.47sec) and Tyler Durden (30.47sec).
“They’re going back over to Adelaide with a courier on Thursday. Neville Loechel, who has the ‘Weblec’ dogs, will take them to the track and then send them back home with the courier on Friday,” Britton explained.
“I was a bit disappointed in most of them last week, but in saying that, some got lost and others were short of a run because of a virus we had here. Some of the dogs hadn’t raced for a month.
“A dog like Do It hadn’t had a trial since his last race (August 19). Whether he improves enough this week I’m not sure, but if he can qualify for the final he’ll be a lot better the following week.”
PAWNOTE: Amazingly, six of the Britton/Langton Cup septet was sired by champion 2015 Adelaide Cup hero Fernando Bale, with Weblec Blazer, which is a son of Mepunga Blazer, himself a son of Adelaide Cup winner Mepunga Nicky, the odd one out.
Three of the Britton/Langton hopefuls are favourite in TAB’s heat markets, with Do It at $1.65 and Weblec Jet $2.70 in their respective qualifiers, while the clash between ‘kennelmates’ Mr. Fix It ($2.10 favourite) and Weblec Blazer ($2.30) in the fourth run-off promises to be one of the highlights of the night.
“After the box draw, Do It probably looks like our best chance, because he’s drawn his box,” Britton said.
“Before the draw, I was thinking Weblec Jet, because he can come out of a box and he’d been flying.
“He can do it at both ends. He’s a pretty good beginner, he’s got pace and he can finish it off.
“When he won the (G2) Geelong Cup he nearly broke the record and when he went up to Wentworth Park he won a (G1) Derby heat by 10 lengths in 29.79sec.
“At his last start before going over to Adelaide he won his first 600m race at The Meadows in 34.17sec but then he got sick with the virus.
WATCH: Adelaide Cup contenders Weblec Blazer (2) and Weblec Jet (6) were both impressive winners in last Thursday’s Match Race Challenge at Angle Park.
“He’s drawn box 7 in his heat and ‘the pink’ (Danyo’s Charlie) is quick out. It led Weblec Blazer in their match race last week.
“Mr. Fix It and Mepunga Blazer are both good chances, but in different ways.
“If Mr. Fix It gets tired then you’ve got a second chance because Mepunga Blazer should be coming home strongly.
“There does look to be a fair bit of early pace in that race, so hopefully Weblec Blazer can be sitting behind those dogs and he’s able to get a run through them.”
With his position in the final assured, Aston Rupee, trained by Glenn Rounds, sits atop the ‘All in’ Adelaide Cup market at $1.70, with Do It, Mr. Fix It and Weblec Blazer all sharing the second line of betting at $8, along with Andrea Dailly’s dual G1 winner Qwara Bale.
