There are two Queensland trained runners in tonight’s $40,000 Sister Cities Cup final at Adelaide’s Angle Park.

            In the Albion Park qualifying race ten days ago, Ron Ball’s Ozo Good (pictured) beat Ryan Ayre’s Bogie King, with both runners becoming the Brisbane representatives in the series. Ozo Good beat Bogie King by two lengths in 30.29.         

            The Sister Cities Cup concept started about a decade ago, involving Adelaide and Christchurch. It was later expanded to include Auckland and Brisbane.

            Ron Ball with Ozo Good and Ryan Ayre with Bogie King travelled to Adelaide last Sunday, and trialled their runners on Monday morning, along with the four New Zealand representatives.

             Bogie King clocked 29.94, with first and middle splits of 4.59 and 17.08.

            ‘’I was hoping he might run in the 4.45 to 4.50 range for the first split but he bungled the start and got a bit lost early,’’ Ayre said.

            ‘Hopefully he will begin better in the race, with that trial experience from the boxes.’’

            Bogie King is a dual Derby winner and proven big race performer.

            ‘’He might be getting towards the end of his career but I reckon he’s still competitive at this high standard,’’ Ayre declared.

            Ozo Good trialled in 30.13, with splits of 4.54 and 17.26.

            ‘’He certainly looked a little strange to the track,’’ Ron Ball said.

            Ball said Ozo Good is highly promising and ‘’capable of doing anything on his night.’’

Another Dollar, representing Christchurch, trialled ‘’box to box’’ from the 515 metres start. The dog ran splits of 4.49 and 17.10. Another Dollar is the defending champion, having won the Sister Cities final in Christchurch last year beating Ron Ball’s Metz Magic.

            Also from Christchurch, Know Spunk completed a box to box trial, with first and second splits of 4.59 and 16.99.

            Auckland runner Thrilling Ransom trialled box to box in 4.59 then a flying 16.95 to the back. Also from Auckland, Kiki Rhode ran the quickest first split of 4.45 with a 17.11 run to the back.

            Adelaide’s runners were to be Aunty Chopper and Hope’s Up. Gary Pidgeon’s Aunty Chopper led throughout in her qualifying race in 30.05. Hopes Up for Cameron Butcher led most of the way to score in 30.19. Aunty Chopper is a scratching and the first reserve, the well credentialed Point Two Over, will start from box one.

             The box draw and market supplied by form guide service The Watchdog, is: 1 Aunty Chopper (Scratched), 2 Know Spunk (Gary Cleeve, Christchurch) $12.00, 3 Ozo Good (Ron Ball, Brisbane) $4.40, 4 Bogie King (Ryan Ayre, Brisbane) $4.60, 5 Hopes Up (Cameron Butcher, Adelaide) $3.60 fav, 6 Kiki Rhode (Wayne and Tracey Steele, Auckland)  ($12), 7 Another Dollar (John McInerney, Christchurch) $10, 8 Thrilling Ransom (Karen Walsh, Auckland) ($5.50). Reserves: 9 Point Two Over (Box 1, Rob Harnas, Adelaide) ($3.40), 10 Andrew’s Courage (Dean Decrea, Adelaide) Scratched..

            Tattsbet has a $20,000 jackpot amount kickstarting the First Four pool on the Sister Cities Cup which is race eight.

            Last Thursday, a jackpot quadrella pool on the Albion Park meeting started with $23,847 and climbed to $88,854. Tonight’s $20,000 jackpot should see the First Four pool reach around the $80,000 mark. Realistically, it’s a very open race.

            The Watchdog tips bold front runner Hopes Up to beat Ozo Good, Bogie King and Thrilling Ransom.

            Racecaller Brenton Yates is tipping Ozo Good to beat Hopes Up, Know Spunk and Bogie King.

            On tonight’s Albion Park meeting, there is a treble jackpot starting pool of $5,977.

 

Story by Paul Dolan, photo by Corey Pearce.