Left: Leading Gippsland greyhound trainer Lauren Gorman was thrilled with her dog’s victory in the 715-metre feature race.By Brad Kingsbury
MOE greyhound trainer Lauren Gorman added the prestigious Sandown Cup to her already impressive list of big race victories when Sargent Major led all the way to win last week’s Group 1 Sandown Cup.
The scratching of pre-race favourite Texas Gold robbed the event of one of its star attractions, but even if it had run, Sargent Major would have been hard to run down.
Installed as a $3.70 favourite, the 31-month-old dog jumped superbly from box four and shot straight to the lead, hugging the rail on the first turn.
Young Nar Nar Goon chaser Turbo Uno, from box seven, trailed it into the straight for the first time and the two settled down to fight it out, leaving the rest of the field to battle for third place.
Sargent Major held a one-length advantage entering the home straight and began to weaken near the line but held on to down its fast-finishing rival by a neck, with honest chaser Springvale Jinx finishing more than two lengths adrift in third place.
Gorman, who also prepared unplaced runner Spalding in the event, said she thought her kennel star could win regardless of whether Texas Gold started or not.
“In all honesty, before Texas Gold was scratched we were fairly confident,” she said.
“None of the other dogs could match our early (time) splits so we knew he had the pace to lead, and often there can be trouble in these types of races.
“In saying that we were not unhappy that Texas Gold was out,” she chuckled.
Gorman is the daughter of long-time leading trainer Peter Giles and their Moe kennel holds up to 40 racing dogs with 25 in work at any one time.
“Dad’s sort of taken a step back and I’ve taken the step forward, but we still make mutual decisions on the dogs and we set both these two specifically for this race,” she said. “It’s a great buzz to win it.”
Gorman said she was a little surprised when Turbo Uno was so close early in the race and knew it would be a close call.
The second dog’s trainer Chris King was ecstatic at its run and predicted a big future for his star.
“I thought I was going to get him on the corner. I was revving him home (but) the other dog was just too good,” he said.
“My bloke missed the start and got pushed sideways at the first corner but, gee, for a young dog like this to put in a run like that in this company, well, you’re going to hear a lot more of this dog.
“I was just happy to be running in the race, but to run second was just outstanding,” King said.
Both dogs will now head to Brisbane for the Gold Coast Cup in two weeks.
