STAR Tasmanian greyhound Buckle Up Wes will contest the state final (Race 8) of the AGRA National Sprint Championship in Launceston tonight but he doesn’t have to win to earn a berth in the National final in Western Australia in a fortnight.
The National Sprint final will boast the state winners from around Australia and two representatives from the home state with one wildcard entry that is the highest ranked dog entered for the series.
Buckle Up Wes owns that honour as he is ranked number three in Australia but the highest ranked in the series.
The best result for Tasmania tonight is that Buckle Up Wes finishes second which will give the state two representatives in the national final at Cannington on Saturday week.
But corporate bookmakers have installed Buckle Up We the $1.45 favourite to win tonight with only Her Highness ($4.50) and Hellyeah Bolt ($9.50) the only others under double figures from boxes one and six respectively.
Buckle Up Wes was clearly the fastest of the three heat winners clocking 29.59 from box five, so from box three tonight he should only need to begin as well as he did last week to lead at he first turn.
If that eventuates then he should take winning form into the national final.
The state final of the distance series looks a match between Painted Dotty (8) and Dominic’s Dove (4).
There were insufficient nominations to stage heats of the National Distance event but last week the club provided a distance event for nominees that needed an outing and Painted Dotty delivered the goods in that race over 720 metres.
The Mick Stringer-trained bitch streeted her rivals last week and that came of the back of three successive wins in NSW, of which the most recent were at Wentworth Park in staying events.
Stringer took her to Sydney to get her warmed up for the state National Distance series owing to there being insufficient races for the bitch over that distance in her own state.
From box eight tonight (Race 6) she will need luck early but should she find the lead or be camped just off the front then she should be too strong for her rivals.
With the scratching of the third favourite, An That, she is likely to start at $1.30 or shorter.
Dominic’s Dove will start from box four and he has god enough form to make his presence felt at the business end of proceedings.