Should Eye On the Storm Fear Zafonic?
The battle between arguably the nation’s top two trainers kicked off once again with the opening heats of the Stan James Blue Riband at Hall Green last night.
Champion trainer Mark Wallis got the better of arch rival Charlie Lister on the previous occasion at Doncaster in the Betfair Trainer’s Championship. Wallis took the competition by two points, enough reason for Lister to reserve Fear Zafonic especially for this competition.
Zafonic (4-6F) was up against a strong pack in heat four but did not disappoint as he smashed out of trap two and won the race by four lengths. Zafonic was accompanied by kennelmate Bandicoot Tipoki (9-4) who took a stumble at the start and had difficulty to catch up and could only finish fifth.
Greyhound of the year Zafonic certainly made a statement last night by clocking 28.13secs, and in process has shaken up the odds once again. This year’s Derby favourite and track record holder at Hall Green, Eye Onthe Storm, has now slipped into second in the ante-post market.
Storm’s current record at the track is 28.03secs, he ran last night in the final heat as a 1-3F and clocked 28.37secs to take first. A comfortable victory beating Driving Up Ben (6-1) by two lengths. You have to keep in mind that Wallis did not trial Storm at the track before the competition, whilst Lister took full advantage of letting his dogs flex their muscles.
The ante-post market are offering odds of 3-1 on Storm to take the competition this year, reasonably priced odds considering what his capable of, although following the draw for this Tuesday’s Semis should sees Storm up against a more challenging field compared to Zafonic, who can now be backed at 5-2 to win it.
Wallis will have four greyhounds representing him in the semis, whilst Lister will be represented by just Zafonic who has been waiting for the opportunity to run against Storm since last year’s Betfred Eclipse final. He may just get the opportunity in the final if they both can simply qualify on Tuesday.
So, will Zafonic be enough to bring home Lister his first major competition of the year? Or will it be Wallis who takes the competition with a Storm? So far it certainly looks to be going either way.
Draw for Tuesday 06/04/2010:
First Semi: T1- Moneygall Obama, T2 – Eye Eye Pickle, T3 – Coolavanny Rock, T4- Dalcash Scolari, T5 – Frisby Fontenblue, T6 – Carden Bert.
Second Semi: T1 – Eye Onthe Storm, T2 – Barnfield Rocky, T3 – Freedom Emma, T4 – Bosscrocker, T5 – Driving Up Ben, T6 – Klockwork Kyla
Third Semi: T1 – Fear Zafonic, T2 – Lodgeview, T3 – Ballymac Ace, T4 – Jogadusc Ace, T5 – Lenson Bolt, T6 – Karma Obama
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