Britton ready for Red Dirt Road’s ‘pick-me-up’

By Pat McLeod

Trainer Tim Britton hopes kennel distance king Red Dirt Road can provide a timely ‘pick-me-up’ in the Ipswich Grand Prix Final at the Q1 Lakeside circuit on Thursday night.

The Churchable-based conditioner and Red Dirt Road were strong Queensland Cup heat winners last month. 

“He has been unlucky, but he is a good, honest dog," Britton said. 

Red Dirt Road, who boasts an impressive 18 wins, nine placings and $252,305 in prizemoney from 37 starts, will jump from box two on Thursday night against a smart field.

“Stowaway (trained by Tom Tzouvelis and jumping from box three) will be hard to beat,” Britton predicts.

“He has a very strong mid-race pace. Then there is Hara’s Lunar (trained by Jemma Daley) out of the red.

“That dog has been racing consistently and that is the thing that might get us. That's one dog that has the distance under her legs.

“Red Dirt Road hasn't raced for three weeks and he's going into this next race a run short.

“It was either put him in or trial him so we thought, ‘why not put him in a race’. Hopefully things will turn out OK. We will see.

“I am hopeful my dog should not have lost a lot of fitness. If his fitness is OK, then he should be strong in this race.”

In all, the kennel has four hopefuls in the race, with Britton’s partner Martina Kirillidis also campaigning Akela Ninjutsu (box four), Akela Ola (box six) and Romantic Red (box seven).

“The Akela dogs have not done a lot of racing on the one-turn track, but they are fit and strong,” Britton said. 

“How they go on Thursday night depends on how they begin.

“Romantic Red, is a funny sort of dog. He misses the kick more than he gets it, but he is probably the strongest dog coming home.

“However, being out wide, and if he misses the start too much, then I think he will be just chasing them.”

Britton’s big-race focus for Red Dirt Road is now The Nationals, to be staged at The Q through August.

“My original plan after the Queensland Cup was to get him ready for The Nationals and that is still the case,” he said.

“I think he is a very good chance for The Nationals especially being at The Q. He is a track specialist there now.”