Carr Confident Charlie Can Topple The Feral

THE much hyped appearance of Group 1 winner Feral Franky in Saturday's TAB Million Dollar Chase heat at Gunnedah has turned ‘Winx-like' with just the nine entries for the opening leg of the world's richest series.

For three full seasons, champion mare Winx took all before her in the thoroughbred world and opposition, at times, proved hard to come by.

Many rival trainers programmed to avoid the 25-time group 1 winner when possible.

And with Feral Franky's highly publicised presence at Gunnedah grabbing plenty of headlines, trainers have elected to by-pass clashing with the Ray Smith-trained powerhouse, the 16-time winner capping off his preparation for the $1.7 million series with a track record breaking 29.82 trial last Saturday.

Despite the lower than expected numbers, one trainer looking forward to tackling the Group 1 Vic Peters Classic victor is central west NSW-based Peter Carr. And the veteran trainer is bullish about his chances with talented siblings Jimmy Casey and Charlie Casey.

"I think I'm a good chance of beating ‘The Feral' on Saturday – mainly with Charlie Casey," beamed Carr.

"I've faced him five times now with either Jimmy or Charlie and he's got the better of us each time but I think there's a bit in our corner on Saturday … but in saying that I've thought that before!"

Carr has guided the sons of Kinloch Brae to eight wins apiece and had his confidence heightened at the weekend when the duo trialled smartly at their Gunnedah debuts.

"I trialled my two after Feral Franky went (a record) 29.82 on Saturday – Charlie Casey went 29.99 and Jimmy Casey went 30.19 … Jimmy always needs a run at a track so he'll improve, he always does," Carr informed.

While confident of a bold showing against Feral Franky, Carr was at pains to point out there's no one more in awe of the deeds of this fabulous chaser than himself.

"He's just a phenomenal dog isn't he?" Carr remarked.

"Every time you say to yourself that he might be in trouble in a race or from that box, he just seems to find a way … his track sense and ability to avoid trouble is unbelievable. He's a great dog.

"It was funny, I was driving into Gunnedah on Saturday to trial when Ray was driving out and when I got to the track the boys there told me Feral Franky had trialled 29.50 … because Ray told them to tell me that!

"Ray and I are good mates and always have a laugh … it'd be good to get one back on him Saturday."

Feral Franky, the $17.00 equal second favourite to take out the TAB Million Dollar Chase, will exit box seven in the Gunnedah heat, while Carr's duo of Jimmy Casey and Charlie Casey have boxes two and four respectively.

"Charlie Casey went a tenth quicker to the first mark than Feral Franky in their trials so I'm hoping he can get to the front on Saturday – it's only a short run to the corner," Carr added.

"I reckon Charmaine Roberts' young dog in the pink [Squiggle Keeping] could cause ‘The Feral' some problems early. He comes out and just cuts hard left. To win I'd say Charlie would need three lengths on Ray's boy turning for home and Jimmy would need 1 ½ – he's very strong Jimmy, he'll go over further when this series is over.

"The plan was to always try and qualify straight up at Gunnedah but if things don't work out I've got my home track series at Dubbo to fall back on. With just the nine nominations we'll be back to do it all again next week regardless.”

Gunnedah's TAB Million Dollar Chase series is the first of 14 to be conducted across regional New South Wales over the next month, with Bathurst, Gosford, Dapto, Casino and Bulli getting into the swing of things in the next seven days.

A total of 56 greyhounds will progress through from the 14 regional series and be joined by the eight city prelude winners in making up the 64 semi-finalists at Wentworth Park on Friday, October 11.

The eight semi-final winners will then face off in the TAB Million Dollar Chase Final on Friday October 18, with over $1.5 million in prize money up for grabs on a champagne night of greyhound racing.