Thompson has two shots at Anniversary Cup

By Josh Spasaro

Rockhampton premiership-winning trainer Juanita Thompson believes Quick Shot is ‘settling in’ and a strong performance this week will show he’s ready to move up the grades.

The two-year-old black dog will line up from box three in the $7,980 Anniversary Cup Final over 510 metres at Callaghan Park on Wednesday night.

Thompson is excited about the future of her Fernando Bale and Magic Miss chaser.

“He’s very strong over the 407 metres. He seems to love the 407 metres here in 'Rocky',” Thompson said.

“How strong he’ll be over the 510 metres, this next race will be a bit of a test of how strong he’ll be there.

“But, we’re not too worried if he’s not overly strong over the 500 metres. We’ve got a lot of QGOLD races over the 407 metres.”

It will be Quick Shot’s second start for Juanita and Clinton Thompson, after top South East Queensland mentor Travis Elson had him running mainly at Q1 and Q2 Parklands.

He finished runner-up in his Anniversary Cup heat last Wednesday night, crossing the line in 30.29 seconds.

“That was his first run over 500 metres the other night,” Thompson said.

“He needed the run over 500 metres. I think he’ll come out a bit stronger this week.

“He only just moved into our kennels prior to that race. He took a little bit of time to adjust.

“I don’t think he’d ever left Travis Elson’s kennels before to be anywhere else.

“He didn’t settle very well for the first few days. But, once he came out of his shell, he was right.”

All seven dogs from the Fernando Bale and Magic Miss litter, with Elson owning the dam, have registered wins.

Cody’s Star has the most number of victories with 13, while Quick Shot has the second-most amount of stakes earnings.

He has saluted on six occasions from 43 starts.

“They seem to be a real strong litter. Us and the owners are hoping for some good times for him ahead,” Thompson said.

Thompson will also have three-year-old bitch Winter Bale starting from box two in the Anniversary Cup Final on Wednesday night.

The Allen Deed and Wanna Allen chaser has 10 wins from 57 starts, including her heat last Wednesday night where she saluted in 30.11 seconds.

“I would’ve liked it if she was in an outside box. That would’ve been better,” Thompson said.

“It’s not often we ask for outside. She’s only a couple of runs back (from injury). So, we were really rapt with what she did the other night.”

Winter Bale displayed a strong and lengthy stride late on the home straight last week, after she was six lengths behind Dream Design on the back straight.

She ended up prevailing with Christine Pollard’s two-year-old bitch finishing second.

"She always comes home good and has been a strong finisher, even over the 400 or 500 metres,” Thompson said.

“She’s always had a strong run home. I’m not too worried if she’s back a little bit, if she ends up not in front or not leading. She can come home.”

It was Winter Bale’s first victory since she saluted over 390 metres at Q1 Lakeside on June 13 of last year.

But, Thompson never lost patience with her.

“She went down to Warren Nicholls at The Q for a while. I don’t think she was a real fan of The Q,” she said.

“She didn’t seem to gel with it. But, she seems to like this 'Rocky' track. She’s very strong over this track. I don’t know what it is about it, but she seems to love this track.”