Bathurst boys looking for Bold Trease win with their bargain buy
BOURBSKI Fever will be racing with the entire city of Bathurst behind her when she contests the Group 1 Bold Trease (715m) at Sandown Park on Friday night.
Although she is trained in Victoria by Andrea Dailly, the daughter of Buck Fever and Midnight Movie was bred locally in Clergate by David Pringle and is owned by long time friends Jason Lyne and Ross Davidson.
Lyne told Australian Racing Greyhound it is beyond his wildest dreams to be racing in a feature worth $100,000-to-the-winner, having purchased the black bitch with the hopes that she may win ‘one or two races'.
“Words can't describe how we feel, ecstatic would be an understatement,” Lyne said.
“I manage the greyhound track at Bathurst and Dave (Pringle) had some pups trialling one day and this bitch was one of them.
“She went very average, she only trialled 26.80 while the rest of the litter went around 26.10, but her last section was just brilliant.
“Dave had asked before the trial if I knew anyone that wanted a brood bitch that may win a race or two because he wanted to sell her for $2,000.
“A good mate of mine Ross Davidson was trialling that day and so we had a chat. I told him that I had a gut feeling she would make a handy stayer and so we decided to buy her and now he half owns her with me.”
Right from the get-go it appeared Bourbski Fever, ($2.50 with Sportsbet) was going to be a stayer, with Lyne so confident he started racing her over the middle distance from her very first start.
“We copped a lot of criticism from people saying she was too young to go over the distance, but we didn't want to put her in over the sprints because she just would have got knocked around and lost her confidence.”
After a handful of starts, Bourbski Fever had shown glimpses of above average ability, with Lyne and Davidson making the call to send her to Victoria to be trained by Team Dailly.
However, it wasn't all smooth sailing, with Bourbski Fever failing to fire in her first five starts for the leading kennel.
The 27 kilogram chaser finally put it all together at Cranbourne over 699 metres, clocking 42.03, and has now won four of her past eight starts with a further two minor placings.
In her heat last week, Bourbski Fever found plenty of interference from box one but never threw in the towel, surging to the line to finish a narrow second behind Ryno's Raider which clocked 42.13.
Now, just two months after she was racing in Restricted Wins events on the provincial circuits, Bourbski Fever will be sent to the boxes as the favourite against Australia's top stayers including Luna Jinx ($3.65 with Bet365), Lady Toy ($12) and Kilkee Flex ($26).
Lyne puts her recent turnaround to race experience and maturity, with the 22 start veteran only turning two years of age late last month.
“She has only just turned two and I think she is just learning each time,” he said.
“She is finally figuring out what it means to be a race dog and she has got a bit of confidence so she is starting to go in and around dogs and is putting herself into some good positions in her races.”
Lyne, who is travelling down to Melbourne to watch his pride and joy compete, said he has no expectations heading into the final, and is just elated to be there.
“The most important thing is that she gets around safe and anything more than that is a bonus, I could not ask for anything more than what she has already done for us,” he said.
“If she were to win it would be a dream come true, it is something we never expected in our wildest dreams, but no matter what happens she is our little superstar.”
The Group 1 Bold Trease is race six at Sandown Park this Friday and is set to jump at 8:28pm.