TALENTED pup Riley Diary stamped himself as a young gun to follow when he outgunned a star-studded line-up in the Hobart club’s Betfair Breeders Classic final at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart last night (Thursday).
The Leigh Wood-trained dog showed good early speed to find the rail soon after the start and after a short-lived stoush with Paper Trail ($23), he sped clear and went on to score by over four lengths from Place Your Bet ($7.10) with outsider Hellyeah Rocket ($22.60) a nose away third.
It gave the son of Bombastic Shiraz-Smart And Sassy his second win from two race starts on the U-bend circuit but three if his qualifying wins is included.
Wood said after he won his qualifying heat that the dog was a natural and would improve with each run on the track and he was proven right.
“He has good box manners and has a great constitution,” Wood said.
“This was a very good field and to win against such quality is testament to his ability.”
“He broke in really well and I was confident very early in the peace that he would make the grade.”
“We had to sort out a couple of little issues but he is racing in top form now and can only get better,” he said.
Riley Diary is owned and raced by Karle Cuthbertson and Sally Wilson who have been riding the crest of a wave for the past 18 months as owners.
Place Your Bet ran on well and looks likely to make the grade and Hellyeah Rocket was going his best work over the concluding stages.
Hellyeah Rocket, prepared by Susan Gittus, was placed second in her qualifying heat and semi-final and if he can improve his box manners he has a future.
The long odds-on favourite Lucky Norris ($1.40) was only fairly away from box one and when he clipped heels and suffered another check he was out of business.
The winner’s litter sister Paper Trail battled on gamely to run fourth and just in advance of the favourite.
Paper trail is prepared at Newnham by Doug Cassidy who is confident the bitch has a bright future.
Paper trail has already won three and placed four times from 11 outings foe about $5000 in stakes so she is already paying her way.