By Isaac Murphy
Andrea Dailly’s kennel continues to produce Group One greyhounds and the respected trainer will rug up two live chances Dyna Patty and Lucy’s Milo in Thursday night’s Brisbane Cup.
“To get one dog through to a Group One final is a thrill, but to have both of them there in what has fast become a prestigious race is huge for us,” Dailly said.
This year’s Group One Australian Cup winner Dyna Patty was heavily fancied in her heat and duly produced a 29.82 victory.
Youngster Lucy’s Milo produced an upset result winning his heat in 30.12.
The two find themselves in similar market positions this week.
Lucy’s Milo is unwanted in betting from a tough Box 7 draw, while Dyna Patty is well-in the market from Box 4 where Dailly hopes she can improve on her impressive heat.
“It was an absolutely brilliant run last week, she’s such a professional on top of her talent and she did everything right from the middle draw (5) getting out early and coming home strong,” Dailly said.
“She’s a very savvy race bitch, she had that comfortable break and once she heard the footsteps coming picked up again late and had a little left in the tank for this week.”
Winning one of Australia’s premier sprint races The Australian Cup, Dailly could be forgiven for believing the Brisbane Cup may be an easier task but she has full respect for the stacked field including four Group One winners.
“There are no easy Group One’s, she’s come up against a lot of these dogs in big races all over the country and this field is just about as good as any,” she said.
“If she can jump she’ll be hard to beat, but everywhere you look there are quality dogs, especially early speed dogs, she’ll need to go with them early.
“It’s greyhound racing and anything can happen, but if she can leave like she did last week and sit outside Barooga Brett or Sennachie at the post she’s probably the stronger dog late.”
At two and a half years old Lucy’s Milo is just beginning to come into his prime and while Dailly admitted winning on Thursday will be difficult the dog was on the path to success.
“I was really impressed with his run, he often gets overlooked with Dyna Patty’s recent success, but he’s a big of a favourite in the kennel and we own him ourselves, which makes it a bit more special,” she said.
“He’s a very strong dog and will keep coming at them, it’ll be a challenge for him this week from the seven because he’ll head straight for the rail, which may give Black Opium the fly outside him.”
“He’s only a young dog to make a Group One final of this calibre at this stage of his career is huge, with a lot of speed in the race he may be left wanting early, but if he can get a sit behind them he’ll be coming.”
While Dailly’s dogs have won their fair share of races at Albion Park it’ll be a first for the trainer tomorrow night who simply couldn’t miss out on seeing her duo shoot for the $250,000 winning prize.
“We’ve had a bit of success in Brisbane over the years, but remarkably I’ve never actually been to the track,” she said.
“I’ve been training for a long time, but hopefully tomorrow night I can bring a bit of beginners luck.”