We haven’t been blessed with his gifted presence in a race for 141 days.
However, local pin-up Mr. Audacious made a bold – and track record-breaking – return in a heat of the Group 2 Bridges on Argyle Traralgon Cup (450m) on Friday night.
Trained at Kilmany by Rachael Busuttil, Mr. Audacious produced a dashing 24.431sec win – slicing a half-length off the 24.482sec mark set by Salad Dodger only nine days ago. (Ironically, on August 5 last year, he defeated Salad Dodger in the G3 Warragul St Leger.)
Mr. Audacious ($3.60) accounted for Quinlan Bale ($2.80F) – which previously held Traralgon’s 450m TR prior to Salad Dodger – by 5.7L.
The intrepid April ’20 Beast Unleashed x Audacious Bell speedster notched his 14th win from 17 starts, including 10 of his past 11, and remains unbeaten in four starts over the 450m trip at Glenview Park.
It was also his second track record, having clocked a sizzling 24.655sec in a G2 Shepparton Cup heat on March 14 last year prior to finishing fifth in the final.
He then cemented his ‘real thing’ status clocking a stunning 24.79sec (Best) in a Ballarat Cup heat on April 1.
It was 0.10sec (less than 2L) off the 24.69sec track record set by Silver Lake. Unfortunately, he was a shock scratching from that G2 final.
Mr. Audacious is one of those rare greyhounds which bursts onto the scene and makes an immediate ‘world is my oyster’ impact.
That was obvious on debut (January 29 last year) over 395m at Traralgon when he scored by 7.8L and clocked a sizzling 21.528sec.
It was a ‘whisker’ off the fastest time (21.526sec) registered since the new world-first ‘J-curve’ track opened and semaphored by 2022 G2 Traralgon Cup winner, Typhoon Sammy.
WATCH: MR. AUDACIOUS (B7) makes a valiant return to racing, setting a new 450m TR (24.431sec) in a Traralgon Cup heat.
Mr. Audacious has developed a huge fan base in Gippsland, including his Rosedale owner Kevin Wainwright who has long maintained he’s “not for sale at any price”.
The cult following also includes a local builder, Mark McMahon, who ironically worked on the new Traralgon GRC complex.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Audacious has been the subject of several offers. The first overture came from his ‘educator’ while being broken-in at 16 months of age and the figure is believed to have been around $30,000.
An undisclosed second proffer followed his 21.79sec success at a Traralgon ‘picnic meeting’.
And two separate expressions of interest were made after he won his Shepparton Cup heat.
GROUP 2 TRARALGON CUP HEAT WINNERS
(fastest to slowest)
24.43sec Mr. Audacious
24.62sec Mobile Legend
24.69sec Salad Dodger
24.71sec I’m Talking
24.73sec Revolution
24.75sec Zella Bale
24.97sec Vance Bale
Meanwhile, other Traralgon Cup heat highlights were:
*** Mobile Legend ($1.60F), trained by Daryl Brennan, will chase his second country cup in 13 days after registering the second fastest time (24.62sec) of seven heats. He won the G2 Warragul Cup (460m) in a race record 25.32sec on January 13.
*** Daniel Gibbons will launch a two-pronged challenge on the final after claiming heats with Zella Bale ($11.90) in 24.75sec and Vance Bale ($38.20) in 24.97sec.
*** The Traralgon 450m TR of Salad Dodger ($1.50F) may have only lasted nine days, but he’s in the ‘mix’ for the final after a gallant 24.69sec success.
*** Remaining heat winners were I’m Talking ($14.30) in 24.71sec and Revolution ($1.70F) in 24.73sec.
Pawnote: The $47,000 to-the-winner G2 Bridges on Argyle Traralgon Cup final (450m) – third and final leg of the Gippsland Festival of Racing – will be decided on January 26.
Photos by Clint Anderson
