By Pat McLeod
He might be named ‘King Of Cool’, but trainer Mark Saal’s talented youngster is just the opposite when it comes to race day.
“He has heaps of ability,” Saal says. “But, he has taken a while to settle down.
“He was really bad in the kennels in the early days and he's still not perfect, but a lot better.
“That is why it took him so long to win a race (six races) because he is just so keen when he gets to the track. That keenness has worked against him early in his career and that is why I have always tried to get an early race for him.
“It is certainly a case of trying to handle his enthusiasm.”
The Toowoomba-based Saal has two things in his favour on a big night of QGOLD heats at Albion Park on Thursday night. King Of Cool is in an early race, the QGOLD Emerging Sprinters over 520 metres, and has drawn a preferred inside box (box two).
Kennel and litter-brother Van Helsing will come out of box four in the following heat.
The two dogs are to date the most successful from a home-bred Zambora Brockie and Babs Kramer litter, with Saal keeping and racing all six pups.
“All the pups from this litter have good pace, just the start is the problem,” Saal said.
“King Of Cool has had six starts at Albion, but has not jumped away well yet. He is not the greatest box dog anyway, but for some reason at Albion Park he just seems to not come out well there.
“I am just hoping he improves on that on Thursday night, because he jumps ok at Ipswich.
“I have got no doubt that he can go quicker than his best at Albion Park, which is 30.24 seconds, but he just has to step to achieve that, and that is his biggest problem.
“I think he is capable of a good win in an age category during this upcoming winter carnival, but again it all depends on how he jumps.
“He hasn’t broken 5.60 seconds (for a first sectional) at Albion Park, and that is an issue. If you are travelling fifth or sixth you are not going to plough down dogs that are running strongly over the 520 metres.”
Saal believes both his chasers are ‘good chances’ if they can start smartly.
Across the three heats of the QGOLD Emerging sprinters there is plenty of quality and sprinkling of already ‘seasoned’, successful performers. These include Another Chance (trained by Selena Zammit - $58,595 in prize money) and Villante (Chris Brydon - $36,600) in heat one; Bear’s Bullet (Travis Elson - $61,405) in heat two; and Ally Gal (Jedda Cutlack - $37,150) in heat three.
The big names certainly will be on show in the other two QGOLD heats on Thursday night – the Winter Chase over 600 metres and the Winter Sprint over 520 metres.