By Alex Nolan
Trainer Darren Johnstone hopes to put a tough 2022 behind him and Vince Curry Memorial semi-finalist Sirius Sandy could go a long way to making that happen if she can qualify for the rich Final.
Sirius Sandy ran the third-overall fastest time of the eight heats (30.61 seconds) at Ipswich last Saturday, despite having to settle for second to Hara’s Boots, who stopped the clock in 30.46 seconds.
Jumping cleanly from box four last week – and running a slick first section of 5.34 seconds – Sirius Sandy was still forced to chase the Tarquin Neal-trained Hara’s Boots (5.28 first section) throughout.
She would finish two lengths adrift of the winner but a whopping 11 lengths ahead of the chasing pack.
The daughter of Zambora Brockie, out of the Johnstones’ talented but troublesome Molly Anne, is perfectly drawn to go one better in Saturday’s third semi-final at the Showgrounds.
Sirius Sandy has drawn the rails for her assignment, which includes heat winners Valpolicella in box three and Brightest Gunn in box four.
Despite racing the clock to get Sirius Sandy ready for the series, Johnstone was thrilled with how the 18-month-old handled her racing debut and hopes she can give things another shake on Saturday.
“I didn’t know if I’d have her ready in time and she’d only had a couple of 520 metre trials beforehand,” Johnstone said.
“She had trialled in 30.70 seconds so I knew she could run around the right time, but it was a question of whether she could do it in a field because she’d only been in three-dog trials.
“Luckily, she got out of the boxes well so she didn’t have to compete with the field.
“This week there are a couple of fast and strong dogs around her but she went 5.34 seconds the first section last week.
“I was rapt getting box one and if she can get out like she did last week and lead, I think she’ll be hard to beat.”
Johnstone said Sirius Sandy put her hand up early to be considered for a series like the Vince Curry, despite being broken in later than the males in her litter.
The Churchable trainer, who notched 89 winners in 2021 at a strike-rate of 18%, including the Queensland Distance Championship with Maggie Moo Moo, said he did have some reservations about how the litter might stand up considering the racing traits of their dam.
That, coupled with a failed mating between Zambora Brockie and Johnstone’s former handy sprinter Daisy Dreams, had stuck in the trainer’s mind.
“Molly had some indiscretions in her racing but I still think she had Group potential,” he said of Sirius Sandy’s dam.
“Due to her indiscretions it was a risk to breed with her but I always had the belief.”