Above: Trainer Paul Donohue was thrilled with his kennel star Jaimandy Coops’ great win in last Thursday’s Group 2 Shootout at Sandown Park.JAIMANDY Coops added victory in the Group 2 Shootout to its recent Topgun win last Thursday night, completing the second leg of greyhound racing’s Triple Crown, with the Melbourne Cup to come.
The black dog’s all-the-way win in the three-dog feature race was achieved in a time of 29.63 seconds after the $1.50 favourite jumped from box one, railed through to take an early lead and held off Andy Palmer, with Sydney raider Old Blue finishing third.
Trainer Paul Donohue was thrilled with his star sprinter’s effort after setting it specifically for the race two months ago.
“He did a great job. I wasn’t all that confident – I never am – but I did think he would go very well,” he said. “You’re never expecting too much in this game. I was happy to win a maiden at Wangaratta when I started off, and to win a Group race, well, I can’t believe it to be quite honest.
“The Shootout was the race I actually set him for in the first place. You have to be selected for the Topgun and he only scraped into that field.
“This was the one I was after. I thought it would suit him with the small field.”
Donohue said his kennel star was jumping better after he and his brother Bernie had spent time working with his starting speed. Cranbourne dog Andy Palmer chased hard to finish 1.75 lengths adrift of the winner, while Old Blue, who battled through an interrupted preparation, finished 10 lengths away.
The win was Jaimandy Coops’ fourth victory in succession – all at Sandown Park – and his winning times of 29.72, 29.60, 29.62 and 29.63 seconds mark the in-form chaser as one of the most consistent greyhounds in Australia.
It was his 19th career victory and took his career prize money past $210,000.
Jaimandy Coops will now attempt to join Bombastic Shiraz as the only dogs to take out greyhound racing’s Triple Crown when he contests the heats of the $215,000 Melbourne Cup at Sandown tonight (Thursday).
Seven Melbourne Cup Preludes were also run last week, with Graeme Bate sounding an ominous warning to his rivals by training a treble.
The only man to prepare three cup winners from a remarkable 18 finalists saluted with Torque Bale, Dyna Redbull and Dash Of Venom.
The Schweppes Melbourne Cup final will be run tonight (Thursday).
