Summer Sand on a 'Rocky' learning path for Suli

By Josh Spasaro

Experienced handler Andrew Suli believes he has acquired an honest chaser ahead of the Don Wisner Memorial at Rockhampton on Wednesday night.

Summer Sand will start in her second race for Suli and his wife Kelly on Wednesday. 

The event will be her first run over 510 metres.

Tony Parker was her last conditioner in Townsville.

She competed well to finish fourth in her last start over 407 metres on Sunday night, after she was last out of the boxes.

“She’s keen, she does everything right when it comes to chasing. That’s half the battle – chasing,” Andrew Suli said.

“The only chink in her armour is the wide running. She wants to get to the middle of the track."

Andrew Suli conceded he would have preferred his juvenile chaser - with three wins from 25 starts - to have drawn out wide, instead of the box one.

“I think I would’ve preferred out wide. (On Sunday night) over 400 metres she dropped out, let them go around and then she hooked to the outside and came around,” he said.

“Watching a few of her replays she didn’t drift too much in the 380 metre races in Townsville. I’m hoping she just holds her line around the first corner and hopefully finds the line.”

Andrew Suli said he has already noticed potential in Summer Sand that she can step up into a competitive 510 metre chaser in Central Queensland.

“Her run-home times in trials here have been pretty handy, so that gives the impression she’ll run a strong 500 metres,” he said.

“But, it’s still just a learning curve for us and we’ll just go from there. On Sunday night there’s an ideal race for her."

Andrew Suli said despite the difficulty of Wednesday night’s assignment, he had faith his bitch would step up to the challenge.

“She seems to be able to run 500 metres. In this race, you’ve got a Rocky Cup-quality dog in the eight, Arnie Ferrari,” he said.

“It’s a hard race, but the first race start for us on Sunday night was a learning curve for us. And, she found the line strong. So, I was happy with the run. 

"We’ve had her a couple of weeks now.”

The Sulis were delighted to oversee two winners over 407 metres at Rockhampton on Sunday night – Sorrento Beach and Sirius Todd.

“Sirius Todd had the best figures of the night, running 23.67 seconds. Where did that come from?” Andrew Suli said.

“He’s been a 23.80 second dog lately and the stars just aligned. He found the front and it was a 14.55 second run home.

“It (also) gives you great satisfaction watching a dog that goes from trialling week-in, week-out at 25 seconds and now they’re running 24 seconds.

“They’re just improving all the time. Sorrento Beach for example. When he first came here he was a 25.20 second dog. He won in 24.15 seconds coming from last.”

Andrew Suli reserved praise for his trainer wife Kelly, who he believes has a knack for picking out strengths and weaknesses in about 30 dogs under their care.

“She’s just got an eye for it. She can watch a dog run and say, ‘that dog is sore there’,” he said.

“Usually, nine times out of 10, she’s spot on.”