The sprinters have been contesting heats over the last two Fridays for their feature sprint final at Hatrick Raceway tonight.
Emerging from those heats unbeaten were the Lisa Ahern-trained pair of Berella Chelsea and Ima Spice. Drawing the one trap presents Berella Chelsea with strong winning claims in the final
(race 7, 7:45pm). Both her heat wins came from the eight trap but she does own solid form from the inside traps.
Ima Spice can be tardy at the start so he will likely be seeking clear early racing room from box six. His greatest asset is his strong finishing ability.
Others competitive in the heats include another Ahern-trained sprinter in Ciao For Now, while the northern visitor Kissin Kate has compiled a respectable record on the track. And the knockout blow in this final, which is also the third leg of tonight's Quaddie, could be provided by Donna Baxter from the John McInerney kennels. She has previously upset in feature finals here, as seen in the Group II Dash For Cash final late last year.
We dedicated last Friday's column to champion Little Mother and her quest to become the winner of the most New Zealand totalisator races. The Lisa Ahern-trained cash machine on paws headed into last Monday's 457m event at the Manawatu Raceway tied with former kennelmate Hifi Allegro at 78 wins. After 26.05s of hard-out chasing Little Mother secured the record for herself with her usual strong finishing effort. Aside from her 79 career victories, the current Hatrick raceway 520m track record holder (29.28s) also owns the New Zealand stakes record, which currently sits at $364,436.
