Caption: Tarquin Neal and Jemma Daley with Hara’s Pandora after Thursday night’s pivotal win (Photo: Box 1 Photography)

By PAT McLEOD

Rising south-east Queensland trainer Tarquin Neal shared the glory when his talented young sprinter Hara’s Pandora secured a significant victory at Albion Park last night (Thursday night).

The  Fernando Bale-Hara’s Honey bitch pinged the lids to take out a fifth grade final over the favourite and also fancied De Ferran (Febregas-Pennybacker) by an impressive six lengths in a smart 29.63secs.

This was a highly anticipated showdown with both dogs showing plenty of potential leading into next week’s heats of the $37,500 Rising Stars (520m) at The Creek.

Neal had plenty of plaudits for his charger, but also included his partner and ‘training buddy’ Jemma Daley in the praise.

“Jemma and I feed off each other each day – the good the bad and the ugly,” he said. “And when the dogs come out and do something like this, all the hard work pays off.

“Jemma and I live apart but we are on the blower to each other all the time. We talk about all the different things and it is good that we bounce ideas off each other.”

Neal said he wasn’t surprised by Hara’s Pandora’s impressive win.

“She has been crying for the inside and as was noted during the week she has had 16 starts and that is only her second time inside box 4,” he said. “She has been crying out for the rails and that is what she can do when she can get the rails.

“Jemma and I have known that for a long time. She flew and beat a good field. But the main goal is next week and the following week.

“My opinion of the dog has not changed at all. She has always shown good ability, it has just been a case of getting the right draws and the right run in the race.

“I am very happy with where she is at the moment. That is what she can do when she can see the rail, she just gets out and goes.

“As far as my progression as a trainer … it really helps when you have a dog like this. It is also good to have a good owner like Tony (Glover) to put trust and faith in us. Combined Jemma and I have had a licence for just six years between us, so to have faith in us with a good litter like this is just unbelievable.

“We are glad that we can repay him anytime we can.

“It’s hard not to think ahead with a dog like this, but a wise man once told me: ‘You can be today’s news and tomorrow’s fish paper so just take one step at a time and stick to the plan and keep going from there’.”

Neal has plenty of respect for the Tony Zammit-trained De Ferran: “He is a freak. I am a massive fan of that dog and to beat him tonight is really good.”

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Veteran trainer Mary Burman wasn’t too surprised when first emergency Blue Hornet took out the opening race of the Thursday night meeting at Albion Park.

“I think he is one of the more promising ones, but there are nine in the litter,” she said.

“I watched his run last week. If he drew close to the fence you had to give him a big chance. So tonight he just got on to the fence and that’s where he wants to be.

“I had him with Warren Nicholls being pre-trained and Warren saw something in him.”

In fact Blue Hornet had two litter-mates in that race – Jewel Bee and Perfect Tyrant – who were both unplaced.

As they do, Mary and Ray Burman have kept all of the Sennachie-Champagne Sally litter. But this will be a last. Champagne Sally is about to whelp another litter, to Tommy Shelby, but they will be sold.

The couple, who have been in the industry since 1974 will reduce down to zero over the next two years.

“Ray’s health is failing and it is just getting harder and harder,” Mary said. “If we weren’t faced with the health issues, we would be right into it.

“But we will enjoy racing this final litter. There are some good ones.”

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Jedda Cutlack is never surprised by Sunburst’s performances. Her trademark is consistency.

“She ran a good time the first 600m she ever ran and we thought ‘great, she will improve on that’. Well, she never has, but she is still running good times,” said Cutlack after the Sh Avatar-Sawadee bitch outscored a high-class 600m field including Pocket Money and Days Of Thunder at Qld HQ on Thursday night.

“She is just so consistent in her racing.”

The only concern for Cutlack is finding races for her chaser.

“She can run 700m, but 600 is her perfect distance,” said Cutlack. “But the struggle is finding those races for her.”

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The big upset of the night was Springtime Jet (Jean Hose) taking out the Best Eight ahead of an unplaced $1.60 favourite Orchestrate.

The Tony Brett-trained Orchestrate slightly missed the kicked, was forced wide on the first bend and was unable to rein in the runaway leaders.

Second-favourite, Shipwreck (Ned Snow), was third with Sandra Hunt’s Feel The Beat, filling the second placing.