Young Lara trainer Tim Britton says he isn’t even thinking about the $500,000 winner’s purse ahead of Saturday night’s The 715, the world’s richest staying race, at The Gardens in Newcastle.
Britton, 33, has numbers on his side after winning three of the five heats held last Friday courtesy of regally bred littermates Play Nice and On The Off, full brothers to the great Tornado Tears, and Wheel And Go.
Making the massive prizemoney even more appealing, Britton’s three finalists are owned by his parents, champion distance trainer Robert and Mary.
“I’m not even thinking about the money yet!” Britton laughed.
The Brittons left no stone unturned in targeting the second running of The 715, tackling the heats with eight runners, after trialling the majority of their raiding party in Newcastle the previous week.
The strategy paid off when $34 roughie Play Nice led all-the-way in the opening heat, running 41.86sec, upsetting series heavyweights Cawbourne Magic ($2.40F) and G1-winning fellow Victorian Ariarne Bale ($3.30).
Likewise, On The Off ($18) then led throughout at double figure odds in heat three, clocking 42.03sec to record his first win since January 5.
Wheel And Go, which also represents greyhound racing royalty, being a son of Benali and Erelda Bale, a litter sister to champion Fanta Bale, then completed Britton’s heat hat-trick in the fourth run-off.
A placegetter in the G1 Hume Cup, Wheel And Go ($3.90) continued his excellent recent form with a 41.90sec success, his fifth win from his past seven starts.
“Going into the heats, I thought Wheel And Go was going to be our best chance,” Britton said.
“The heats were very tough and I didn’t really give On The Off much of a chance, and Play Nice was in a really hard heat, but they both jumped well and kept going.
“I spoke to Dad, who’s in America, on the phone after the first few heats and said to him The Gardens looks like a front-runners’ track, so we’re hoping they can put themselves up there again in the final.
“Peter Riley drove up and trialled all our heat runners, except First Picked, at The Gardens the week before and I think that definitely helped. Hopefully they’ll improve on their heat runs with another run there.
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“I was feeling pretty good until I saw what the last heat winner ran (Palawa King – 41.59sec). It did blow the start, but in saying that, it can obviously run.”
Britton’s trio are all big odds in Sportsbet’s market on the lucrative final – Wheel And Go (box 7) the shortest at $17, with On The Off (box 3) $26 and Play Nice (box 8) at $51.
“The box draw hasn’t been very kind to us and two of them have drawn next to each other, which isn’t ideal,” Britton said.
“I’m just hoping we can get a frontrunner again and get some luck behind us.
“Wheel And Go is our best chance. But he’ll need to begin a bit better than he did last week.”
