TOP greyhound trainer Ted Medhurst has always had a good opinion of Retail Chart but not even the master mentor would have rated him a winning chance in a heat of the Tasmanian Gold Cup based on his recent form.
Medhurst also had Lorus Time and the consistent Star Chamber engaged in the same heat from boxes one and three respectively while retail Chart was out wide in seven.
The market told the story with Star Chamber heavily backed in to start the $2.20 favourite ahead of Lorus Time ($4.70) that also had his share of support with Retail Chart friendless at $42.
But Retail Chart had other ideas and flew the lids from box seven to find the lead after travelling 100 metres and proceeded to put a space between himself and the rest.
Retail Chart went on to score by four lengths from Lorus Time with Long View Belle almost two lengths away third.
The son of Barcia Bale-Miss Roman Nose was bred by Terry and Betty Penny and he is one of a brilliant litter that has produced multiple feature race finalists in the past eight months including Keune that has been on a winning spree of late winning eight in succession.
Tecoma Emily worked home well to finish fourth to earn a berth in next week’s final.
Retail Chart covered the 461 metres in 25.90 which was clearly the best of the two heat winners.
The Gary Fahey-trained Breaker’s Tip cemented his place in the final with an all-the-way win in the remaining heat.
Breaker’s Tip began well from box five and had the lead after travelling 80 metres and from there it was a procession as he powered his way to the line to score by 1-1/4 lengths from the Ted Medhurst-trained Prescribe that settled second and had every chance to run the leader down.
Elite Enfield from the Graeme Barber kennel produced his usual game effort to finish third almost two lengths away with Next Matador making it to the final with a game fourth after copping a couple of checks in the run.
Breaker’s Tip was backed late in betting to start favourite at $2.40 ahead of Prescribe ($2.80) that was odds-on for most of the time until the big money came late for Fahey’s kennel star.
Next week’s final comprises (not in box order): Retail Chart, Lorus Time, Long View Belle, Tecoma Emily, Breaker’s Tip, Prescribe, Elite Enfield and Next Matador.