Still riding the high of Untapped’s fairy tale Sandown Cup triumph, Dustin Drew is wary of NSW powerhouse Zipping Kansas in Thursday night’s four-greyhound Group 3 Super Stayers Invitational (710m) at Albion Park in Brisbane.
Untapped and ‘Team Dailly’s’ four-time G1 winner Gyspy Wyong will represent Victoria in the $40,000 to-the-winner half-field feature.
“I think the small field suits Zipping Kansas to a tee,” said Drew.
“He’s been a bit of an easy target but he’s one of the fastest dogs in the country. You don’t run 41.20sec at Sandown if you can’t run and his last start win would have done his confidence the world of good.
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“If Untapped happens to find the front, Zipping Kansas is every chance of sitting on her hammer. In saying that, Untapped will be running time as well.
“Untapped will be better for the run and the main aim is the (G1) Queensland Cup heats next Thursday (June 30), but the Super Stayers is too good a race not to be in.”
TAB agrees with Drew’s Super Stayers assessment, installing Zipping Kansas (Box 7) $2.40 Fixed Odds favourite, with Untapped (Box 3) $4.40.
Since her memorable front-running Sandown Cup success, Untapped was luckless in a heat of ‘The 715’ in Newcastle, before running third in a heat of the Pink Diamond Champion Distance series at Geelong, behind Collinda Patty and eventual winner Aston Velvet.
WATCH: UNTAPPED (7) claimed the most prestigious staying event in the country when leading all-the-way in the Group 1 Sandown Cup (715m) on May 19, clocking 41.40sec.
“The only negative with Untapped is that the hard, continuous racing doesn’t really suit her; if you can keep her fresh, she grows a leg,” Drew explained.
“But with the staying program, there’s nothing on and then everything is on.
“I might never get another dog good enough to go in these races again, so you’ve got to make the most of it.”
Untapped will be based with leading trainers Mick and Selena Zammit for her Queensland campaign, with Drew taking advantage of a relationship forged when he was a teenager.
“She flew up last Friday and had a box-to-box at Albion Park on Sunday night,” Drew explained.
“Mick (Zammit) is really happy with her. She can’t be in any better hands with Mick and Selena.
“I got to know Mick when I went with Jim Thomson to the Ipswich Auction, when I was only 18, and we stayed at Mick and Selena’s. I’m very lucky to be able to send Untapped to them.”
Victoria will also have two contenders in Thursday night’s G3 Super Sprint (520m), last week’s G2 Flying Amy Classic winner Photo Man (Box 1) and 2021 G1 Brisbane Cup hero Equalizer (Box 3).
Sandown Cup heroine Untapped is chasing more Group glory in Brisbane.
