Maitland Made To Order For Corykodi

VETERAN Queensland trainer Claude Dacey can’t wait to get his star galloper Corykodi to Maitland this Thursday afternoon for a pipe-opener towards next week’s Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup (450m) heats.

VETERAN Queensland trainer Claude Dacey can't wait to get his star galloper Corykodi to Maitland this Thursday afternoon for a pipe-opener towards next week's Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup heats (450m).

Corykodi, a brilliant winner of the Group 3 Devonport Cup in mid-January, has been a marvelous money-spinner for 84-year old Dacey throughout his 64 start career, victorious on 31 occasions, with prizemoney upwards of $125k.

"Everyone tells me he should fly around Maitland and his first look at tracks is generally his best so I'm pretty confident he'll run a big race on Thursday," declared Dacey.

"I'm getting too old to travel now so Darryl McGrath is taking him to Maitland for me. I've had a good look through the race and it's not going to be easy. He's well boxed in eight but being truthful boxes don't really worry him, he tries his guts out no matter where he's drawn, it's more about what's around him, he should get his chance from out there."

Not three until next month, beginning his career at just 18 months of age when taking out the time-honoured Pop Northfield Memorial Maiden at Casino, Corykodi is a son of Paw Licking and Dayseas Astra, his sire a rampaging winner of the Maitland Cup in 2014 for Kel Greenough.

"Paw Licking won the Hobart Thousand as well, we tried to win that in December but the dog wasn't 100% going into that series and came up a bit short," said Dacey.

"He went on to win the Devonport Cup after that and then finished third in the Launceston Cup Final – he struggles to get a real strong 500 so I thought his run at Launceston was very good considering he didn't lead."

While Queensland greyhound racing has gone from strength-to-strength recently with a significant cash injection towards prizemoney, the absence of a big one-turn track, since the closure of the Gold Coast in 2009, continues to be cause of frustration among participants.

"Yes, it's frustrating especially with a dog like him – the big one turn tracks are his bread and butter so we've had to travel to try and find the right races for him most of the time," said Dacey.

"They'll probably start building a one turn track in Queensland the day I'm finished! He would have flown around the old Gold Coast track!"

While Corykodi will have his share of admirers at Maitland this Thursday, a stellar field of chasers is set to line-up in the eighth event on the program, including 2018 Maitland Cup hero Aston Duke for trainer Jason Mackay.

Returning to the track in recent weeks with an outstanding second at Gosford before scoring at Richmond last Friday night in a slick 22.61, Aston Duke is joined in Thursday's event by kennelmate Flying Apollo, the former Victorian debuting for Mackay in winning fashion last Thursday over the 400m in 22.12.

Throw into the mix One Hour Parking – a winner last week at the track and distance in a sizzling 25.07 – and talented Queenslander Call Me Ugo, who is sure to have benefited from last week's run at the circuit, and a sub-25 run is all but certain to be required for victory.

"He'll be out there giving his best, he always does, his last two wins up Capalaba have been great," said Dacey.

"And don't sell his brother Kenatay short in race three either. Early on he was just as quick as Corykodi but he's completely hit and miss at the start. He's got box one and if he happened to get the start right it wouldn't surprise me at all what he did.

"We're pretty busy here at home – we've got 12 pups four days old by Fernando Bale out of Jeannie Dreaming, a sister to Corykodi. They'll be for sale in a couple of months and should be highly sought after."

 

Latest News Articles