EXPERIENCED greyhound trainer Leigh Wood will load two genuine winning chances in semi-finals of the Hobart Greyhound Racing Club’s Betfair Breeders Classic at Tattersall’s Park tonight.
Wood will be represented by Riley Diary (Bombastic Shiraz-Smart And Sassy) in the first semi-final (race 3) and litter brother Three Tradies in the last semi-final (race 6).
Riley Diary was impressive in winning his qualifying heat. He jumped well from the inside box and gave his rivals a galloping lesson, stopping the clock at 26.35s, which was a fair effort for his first look at the track.
Three Tradies also won his heat although his time of 26.75 was a somewhat pedestrian compared to the other heat winners but Wood is quietly confident he can improve enough to sneak into the final.
A shock scratching from tonight’s semi-finals is the Mick Stringer-trained Painted Patches (Scull Murphy-Painted Shaza).
The dog scored a sensational win in his heat clocking 26.03s over the 461 metres and would have started a long odds-on favourite to win semi-final number two (race 4).
Listen to what trainer Leigh Wood had to say about Riley Diary and Three Tradies’ chances in tonight’s semi-finals – click here