EXCITING greyhound Luke’s A Missile staked his claim on next week’s Tasmanian Derby with an emphatic win in his heat at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston on Monday night.
Luke’s A Missile showed blistering early speed to overcome box five to lead the field out of the first turn.
Once on the lure he sped clear and maintained a sizeable margin on his rivals to go on and defeat Decembrist and Bronko Pete with Regent Typhoon a close-up fourth.
It was the Allan Clark-trained dog’s fourth win on the Launceston circuit from nine tries and given a good draw in the final he will make his presence felt at the business and of proceedings.
Winklee Wonder (box 6) and Posh Larry (1) were sent out $3.10 equal favourites in the remaining Derby heat with Winklee Wonder gaining the upper hand from Posh Larry in the closing stages.
Crowie Lamar finished third in advance of Pedro’s Pirate in a heat that was deprived of a lot of interest due to the withdrawal of arguably Tasmania’s fastest greyhound Damek that holds the track record on the Launceston circuit.
Damek has not raced since suffering an injury at The Meadows in Victoria early last month.