LITTER siblings Prescribe and Demi Cali secured their berths in next week’s Illingworth Classic final with impressive heat wins at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston on Monday night.
Demi Cali showed blistering early speed to lead from box six and then had enough in reserve to stave off determined challenges over the concluding stages to win from Posh Fire and Mavista Falls that hit the line almost in sync.
Demi Cali (St Pierre-Wongawilli Wala) has an imposing record on the Launceston circuit with this latest win her forth from eight tries but she also has three placings to her credit and all over the 515-metre trip.
The Ted Medhurst-trained bitch stopped the clock at 29.77 with splits of 5.04 and 17.72.
Her litter brother Prescribe showed good speed from the boxes wearing the yellow vest but he was unable to cross Lovely Banks that sped through from box three to lead while Winklea Zipper crossed from box eight to be hot on the leader’s heels as they hit the first turn.
Prescribe settled just off the speed but when he cut back to the rails to set sail after the leader he quickly claimed the leader and went to score by almost four lengths from Winklea Zipper with Elite Enfield getting up for third ahead of Posh Renee.
Medhurst was hoping for a similar result for his exciting pup Hey Franklin but his chances were ruined when he found trouble at the first turn.
But it was smooth sailing for Simpsons Bay that avoided the trouble and settled second behind Howzat Patsy that led clearly to the home turn.
But she was unable to answer the strong challenge from Simpsons Bay over the concluding stages.
The fourth heat was taken out by rank outsider Winklee Jedda that led from box five and was never headed scoring comfortably from another outsider Lapland with Glenrea Target gaining the judges decision for third ahead of Miller’s Magic.
Punters were left reeling with the three outsiders filling the placings in the small field of six with the short-price favourite Mandy Charm ($2) finishing last .
It was Winklee Jedda’s first win from seven start on the Launceston circuit and he had only one other victory to his credit from 15 outings which is why he was the bolter of the field.
Winklee Jedda (Cosmic Rumble-Winklee Weeper) was the slowest of the five heat winners clocking 30.34 with splits of 5.07 and 17.95.
Bruny Venture produced a brilliant effort to win his heat at his first start for over two months.
The Gary Fahey-trained dog has been competitive in al feature series he has contested and with that run under his belt he will strip a lot fitter for the final.
Bruny Venture covered the 515 metres in 30.01 with splits of 5.07 and 17.60.
Medhurst will have three finalists courtesy of his Devonport Cup winner Dark Vito flashing home to run second to Bruny Venture after copping a check in the back stretch.
The winners of each of the five heats and the three fastest seconds progressed to the final with the other two placegetters to make it being Posh Fire and Winklee Zipper.
Box draw for Illingworth Classic final:
1 – Winklee Jedda.
2 – Bruny Venture.
3 – Winklee Zipper.
4 – Posh Fire.
5 – Prescribe.
6 – Simpsons Bay.
7 – Dark Vito.
8 – Demi Cali.
Reserves:
9 – Howzat Patsy.
10 – Lapland.