Cynthia Set For Medal Battle

LOCAL galloper Lady Cynthia will be chasing eight wins on the stretch when she steps out as the fastest qualifier from box five in Tuesday night’s Ladbrokes Monthly Medal Final (388m) at Gosford.

LOCAL galloper Lady Cynthia will be chasing eight wins on the stretch when she steps out as the fastest qualifier from box five in Tuesday night's Ladbrokes Monthly Medal Final (388m) at Gosford.

Prepared by 80-year old Wyee trainer Gerry Lee, Lady Cynthia has been in explosive form leading into Tuesday night's $2,670 to-the-winner final, claiming victory at her past seven appearances, including last week's slashing 22.06 Gosford heat success, scoring by eight lengths.

"The best thing about her is she never gives in, she's a mighty little chaser with great speed," beamed Lee on Tuesday morning.

A February ‘2017 daughter of Black Magic Opal and Elusive Chakra, Lady Cynthia has recorded 10 victories from her 16 career appearances, but as the veteran conditioner explains, it wasn't always smooth sailing with the two-year old chaser.

"I was up at Maitland with Bill and Margaret Bright one day and they mentioned that Elusive Chakra was on season but they were moving house at the time and said they were going to let her go and not breed with her," explained Lee.

"The first litter she had to Oaks Road was pretty handy so I suggested to them that I take her and breed a litter for a pup deal and that's what we did. She had four, I kept three, two bitches and a dog, and they took the other dog.

"I nursed mine along and I sent them to Cudal for Dennis Barnes to break them in. None of the three broke 20 seconds but I knew they were pretty soft at the time so I wasn't all that worried.

"They've taken some time but they are lovely dogs, beautiful around home with a lovely nature. Sadly the dog I had from the litter, Warkworth, died in a yard accident before Christmas. I've had some fast dogs over the years but I'm telling you he was the fastest. It was a real shame, he could have been anything and I was just starting to get to the bottom of some of his problems as well."

Whilst Lee remains optimistic about Lady Cynthia's prospects in Tuesday night's quality final, he gives the upmost respect to Robert and Tina Howard's trio of finalists, Ripper Zipper (box 1), Tick The Zipper (box 2) and Zipper's Me Mum, the first reserve that goes into box four.

"Robert is a very good trainer, don't worry about that – his dogs are always very hard to beat," said Lee.

"When I'm looking at the opposition I focus more on the trainers than anything else and Robert is a top trainer, his dogs always look great and race well. All three of his will be hard to beat, they have very good records and can come out of a box as well."

Following tonight's final appearance Lee has mapped out a rather conservative plan with Lady Cynthia, planning to make the most of what the grading policy has to offer.

"Those that don't like the policy generally don't understand it, you need to use it to your advantage where you can," said Lee.

"I've had a good look and she's got four fifth grades at Richmond over the two shorter distances and two left at Maitland. There is a race on Cup night at Maitland that should suit her so the aim is that for now.

"On her run home times I'm confident she'll get 500 later on, she's just two years old now so there's no need to rush her. I was up at Dave Irwin's on the weekend for his 70th birthday and mentioned to him that down the track I might send her his way – I have a great relationship with Dave, he's a marvelous man and a bloody good trainer.

"I expect her to race well on Tuesday night and I can promise you she'll be giving her best, she always does!"

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