Saturday night’s WA Oaks Final at Group 2 level caps off a wonderful three weeks of greyhound racing, where we have seen the next generation take centre stage. There’s been a handful of dogs who look more than capable of making the grade and this looks to be a strong edition of the Oaks, especially compared to recent years. We’ll look at the WA Oaks as well as a few standout selections across the night.
WA Oaks Final (Group 2)
The box draw has made this final very interesting, where the early speed battle could play out several different ways. This is because the main early splitters in boxes 3,4,6,7,8 are all mustering types and are not the tightest railers. Flying Freda (box 4) was the fastest qualifier and current favourite for the race but has to contend with Canya Mia in box 3 who likes to use a bit of the track. Disco Daisy (box 6), Tweak Freak (box 7) and West On Blossom (box 8) are all quite similar early and would need to break the line early to find a spot in running. The first turn has the potential to end up quite messy.
For this reason, I keep coming back to Rippin’ Grace (pictured) who will miss the start early, and flop straight over to the rail. Whilst the heavens did open for her at the first turn last week, she went 29.80 and stormed home in 10.99. There’s every chance a similar run opens here and she can gun them down late. At $5.50/$1.90 with TABtouch, a place heavy bet on Rippin Grace looks to be the way to play.
West On Blossom looks the most likely of the five early splitters in the race to lead, therefore I have her as the main danger. Flying Freda is very good but is going to need luck from the middle draw.
Bet: #5 Rippin’ Grace (place heavy)
Main Plays On The Card
Race 2 #8 West On Odie
In love with the map here from box 8 for West On Odie. He finds a very winnable 380m race and with Lost And Found in box 7 looking to cut down towards the fence, he should be too strong for them. Odie has gone 29.89 over the 520m from box 8 and I think his best work will come with a bit of room to operate. Very keen to play.
Race 5 #3 Poppa Mono
Corey White’s team is flying and I was impressed with the run from Poppa Mono last start. He is very strong late and won’t be getting involved in any speed battles early. This was another race where I struggled to pin down a leader. The most likely would be Iconic Indie but she was picked up quite quickly by Block Chain last start when eventually running fifth. The only concern for Poppa Mono here is his tendency to want to go around dogs but with any sort of luck in transit, he will be hard to beat and hopefully we hear one of Peter O’Neil’s trademark “Up on one wheel!” calls in the home straight.
Race 7 #8 Barbeque Man
Boxed to show his best here is Barbeque Man and his best is very good. Now he is getting up in the grades, I suspect we will see his best work from wide draws, where he can get into his work and peel off that brilliant middle section he has. His main danger is Who Told Tuff who is no slouch but has been getting no luck at all in recent times. He is a strong mustering type and I’m not sure where he is going to get to from box 4. I think Barbeque Man could be off and gone.
Race 12 #8 Cawbourne Roses
Improved big time second up for Lewis Clay and given it is a five-dog field, box 8 doesn’t put me off. The first turn is interesting here with Jimmy’s Decision stepping up to 600, Crypto Monelli and Quick Smart all vying for the early lead. There could be some tired dogs late and Cawbourne Roses will be there to capitalise.