By Isaac Murphy
Hall of Fame trainer Tony Brett has his sights set on Winter Cup glory as his talented chaser Jury returns to the track in the third heat of the Group 1 qualifiers on Thursday Night.
Jury boasts an imposing record with five wins from eleven starts at the track and distance, but had not raced since February until his first up run finishing second over the 520m last week.
“Unfortunately with him he suffered an injury he tore a hip support at his last start down at The Meadows in the Heats of The Australian Cup so it was an enforced spell for injury,” Brett said.
In spite of the unscheduled layoff Brett said Jury’s return to the track had buoyed his confidence heading into this week.
“He missed the start last week which is never good especially in that class of race and just got bunched up a little bit on the rails,” he said.
“I was really happy with how he finished it off, he always sort of takes a run or two to get back into it which was why I was keen to start him back last week before the heats this week.”
Brett said he was always hopeful Jury would return in time for the Winter Cup, and was excited about what lay ahead.
“We were aiming for the Winter Cup, but you can’t rush these sorts of injuries, but we did have a goal in mind of where we wanted him to be,” he said.
“It's perfect timing, the leads in he’s had to this race followed by (UBET) Origin and a few other races so I’m really pleased with him.”
Brett said he was satisfied with the box draw (8), but was well aware of talented dogs drawn close to the rail singling out Not Available (1) as a main danger.
“He can really begin (Jury) and although he just missed it last week I’d love to see him come out,” he said.
“He’s not a mad crasher for the rail and the couple of dogs inside him haven’t got lightning speed so he should get a pretty good run out there.
“The dog to beat is the red dog Not Available, he’s drawn lovely and has run time up here so I’d like to see us punch up around those inside dogs and if we can lead at the first turn.”
Brett also has newly-acquiredstayer Ebby Ripper running on Thursday night over 710m in the ninth and believes she’ll be a dog to follow moving forward.
“We were pretty disappointed we didn’t get a race for her last week in the Superstayers Invitational last week, but we’ve got her in for the 700 race tomorrow night, which looks ideal for her,” he said.