Caption: Cash Master (Bob Cooke) wins his heat of the QGOLD Winter Sprint (520m) last Thursday night at Albion Park. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)

By Pat McLeod

Cash Master, the King of Grafton, is seeking to dethrone Albion Park royalty Jay Is Jay on QGOLD finals night at The Creek on Thursday night.

Selena and Mick Zammit’s Jay Is Jay may be the Albion Park track record holder, but Cash Master and his mentor Bob Cooke are chasing his crown.

“If Cash Master comes out good, I give him a good chance. It all comes down to the start,” says Cooke.

The two last clashed in the Grafton Cup on May 7. Cash Master took the honours then with Jay Is Jay finishing fourth.

Since then Cooke’s flyer chalked up another Grafton win before taking out his QGOLD Winter Sprint (520m) heat last Thursday night in 30.08.

Jay Is Jay also joined the final field with a run that oozed quality, first to the post in 29.80.

“It was good to come back to Albion Park, especially with a win,” said Cooke.

“I thought it was a really good run from my bloke. He was held up by another dog, just wanting to push him off the track a bit.

“Cash Master didn’t get past him until about the 700m boxes and he had to really work hard to get past him. I think that cost him a fair bit of time.

“I think he would have broken 30 if he had not been held up. But I was impressed because he kept on pushing through.”

Cooke said he was rapt with is box draw (Box 2) … until Jay Is Jay drew the red.

“I do have a lot of respect for Jay Is Jay, especially at Albion Park,” said Cooke.

“If we were at Grafton I reckon I could turn the tables on him almost every time. But Albion Park is a different story.

“Put it this way, I class Grafton as my fella’s home track and I am sure Mick (Zammit) would say Albion Park as Jay Is Jay’s home track.

“The worst thing about my fella is that he doesn’t seem to be able to nail the start at Albion Park like he does at Grafton. At Grafton he just goes ‘bang’!”

While Cooke considers Jay Is Jay as the obvious main danger, he says Thursday night’s field is full of quality with the threats lining up directly to Cash Master’s right – Shipwreck (Box 3), Springtime Jet (4) and Tomahawk Hayze (5).

And Cooke repeats, the start is key.

“If Cash Master comes out running I think he can go with the five (Tomahawk Hayze), who is a quick starter.

“To be realistic, my fella would need to be three to four lengths in front of Jay Is Jay down the back to have a chance of finishing in front of him.”

In all there will be nine QGOLD finals on Thursday night across a variety of age, class and distance with total prizemoney for these races at $245,600.

Brisbane Greyhound Racing club CEO Luke Gatehouse said there was not a better way to herald the start of the winter carnival at Albion Park.

“For me, we could not have a better start to our biggest and best carnival than with the headlights fairly and squarely on the locals,” he said.

“And that is what QGOLD is all about – Queensland-bred greyhounds.

“The QGOLD concept started at the Golden Greys Summer Carnival and was an incredible success. The same will apply this winter.

“That money is a great reward for those who have invested in breeding locally.

“What I also like about this night is the variety of events – the distances, class and age categories mean that basically every greyhound bred in Queensland is eligible for one of these races.”