All the latest from Crayford Greyhound Track
Published: 08:00, 28 August 2013
Updated: 09:50, 28 August 2013
Rising Dawn, tipped here a fortnight ago, continues to make progress up the grading ladder after her victory last Thursday at odds of 7-2.
The winning margin was an impressive five lengths in this A2 race, so it will be top grade next time and, as a newcomer to this elite level, she will start at good odds.
I have been following, as usual, the fortunes of the newcomers and Knockane Tiger and Key Magic – trained by Julie Luckhurst and Patsy Cusack – look future winners.
It is early days for the pair but they have been giving positive signs that there will be plenty of wins in the coming weeks.
Knockane Tiger joined Luckhurst’s kennels in June, having had a couple of trials at Cork and recorded a decent trial time here of 23.95 over the 380m distance. He went onto the race card in grade A5 and had four runs, finishing in the first three each time but without a win.
The statistic was corrected last Thursday by more than four lengths in 23.83.
While his first four efforts showed he missed his break when the traps opened, he made no mistake leading from trap to line with a sectional time of 3.62 – by far his fastest start to date.
As a puppy who will not be two until November, he is still learning and this win will have done wonders for his confidence. He may now have to find more time on the clock to win an A4 but I am confident he will progress.
While Key Magic has more experience – having had 16 races – she has come to my attention over the last month with three wins, a second and three third places.
She started her career here in April in grade A7 and is currently at A3. On her known form, it could well be that this may be the highest she can go but I believe she will win in this grade.
She is the type of dog who, if struggling against her current opposition, will be dropped down a grade where she will certainly win as before.
Both are well worth keeping an eye open for, certainly in the short term.