Caption: King Eternal winning at Albion Park late last year – the Darren Taylor-trained chaser will contest the heats of the Rockhampton Wildcard series (510m) on Wednesday night. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
By Wayne Heming
A weight-loss program designed by trainer Darren Taylor could pay handsome dividends for outsider King Eternal in the heats of the Rockhampton Wildcard series (510m) on Wednesday night.
A heavyweight dog who races best at around 37kgs, King Eternal’s weight snuck away from Taylor recently, forcing him to re-think and make a few minor adjustments.
“He’s a pretty big dog. He got away from us a bit, but we managed to get his weight back down to 38 kgs.
“As they say: ‘weight stops a train’,” added Taylor.
Taylor, who trains near Rockhampton, has two starters, King Eternal (box 7) in the third heat and the more fancied, Out The Bottle (box 8), in the second heat.
“They are a couple of strong dogs,” said Taylor.
“If they get a clear passage in their races, they’ll be running over the top of their rivals, that’s for sure.
“I don’t mind Out The Bottle drawn out in box eight, it’s where he likes to be.
“He’s just got to begin like he did last week in the Anniversary Cup and they’ll know he is there again.”
Taylor was referring to Out The Bottle’s giant-killing win over Showtime Isaac and his kennel-mate King Eternal, ending the run of victories by Steve Scott’s boom young dog Oorah (4th), who had won his previous three starts in style.
While Out The Bottle is the more fancied of Taylor’s pair, he was rapt in King Eternal’s flashing third last week, finishing just ahead of the odds-on favourite Oorah.
“He came from last and was blocked for a run,” said Taylor.
“Oorah was ahead of him and he took ground off him in the straight.
“When I heard him called third, I thought to myself: ‘Where the hell did he come from’. It was a terrific run.
“He is no slouch. He’s won at the Meadows and Albion Park for us.”
Taylor described Out The Bottle as a ‘funny little bugger’.
“He’s not a big dog and can be a finicky bugger,” he said.
He had intended to step Out The Bottle up to 700m until he suffered a shoulder injury which forced him to back off and freshen him up, bringing him back to racing in the Anniversary Cup.
“I think his shoulder was troubling him, but now we are on top of it he is jumping again,” he said.
The Sarina-based Scott, whose kennels continue to grow and produce more winners, has 10 runners in the four Wildcard heats.
He has strong chances with End Of Story (box 1) and Farmor Fired Up (box 4) in Heat 1, Sneaky Pete (box 1), Oorah (box 4) in Heat 2 and Custard’s Son (box 5) and Imprisonment (box 7) in heats three and four.
Recently crowned Rockhampton Trainer of the Year, Juanita Thompson, has four runners engaged with her best chance appearing to be the highly consistent Claretown Sadie (box 1) in the third heat.
Claretown Sadie has drawn the inside box and has the second fastest time over the 510m in her heat.
Thompson has a soft spot for another of her Wildcard runners, City Way (box 4) in the final heat.
“He’s been a great performer and we’d love to see him in the Rocky Cup or the Consolation series,” he said.
City Way has won 15 starts and $69,000 in prizemoney, but comes up against the King of Rocky in the Dallas Beckett-trained Play Dirty, who took a heavy tumble three starts ago while attempting to win his 13th straight win.
Play Dirty won his next start, but was a little disappointing last start when ta well-beaten third, some eight lengths behind Claretown Sadie and the Christine Pollard-trained Edgewood, crowned Rockhampton Greyhound of 2024 this month, who will jump from box 8 in the opening heat of the Wildcard.
Play Dirty has the pink rug, which he has worn five times for four wins.
