By Isaac Murphy
Terry Medcalf didn’t even think he would get his bitch Shot Clock back to the track after a string of injuries, but the lightly raced sprinter is poised to take a shot at Nationals glory as she lines up in Heat 1 of the state finals at Albion Park tonight.
Shot Clock, who jumps from the four tonight has put together back to back wins over the 520 at Albion in 29.84 and 29.82 and Medcalf believes with the right luck the lightly raced three year old could challenge the stacked field.
“It’s always a bit of a worry something could happen again,” Medcalf said.
“But we just take it easy with her during the week and at this stage everything is fine fitness wise.”
“She’s jumping out of her skin at the moment., the three inside her are pretty quick dogs and she’s not that fast early so she might find it hard to cross them.”
Medcalf conceded Shot Clock didn’t have the best box manners in the race, but with the right run could really fly.
“It’s a bit of a funny one (her box speed), you’d think with the sectionals she can run over the 395 first split she’d be golden but she can’t seem to match that over the 520 mark,” he said.
“She always takes a couple of strides before she really gets going, so I’m scratching my head a bit with that one.”
“She showed the week before last she can also run off the speed and came home in 12.41, she’s very hard to work out, she sort of relaxes early and has a strong finish, last week she broke 11.30 down the back so she flies along.”
Medcalf said Shot Clock’s ability to find her favourite spot would largely depend on how the rest of the field began.
“I’d like to be able to just drop to the fence,” he said.
“I imagine Brett Hazelgrove’s dog All About Tiger will lead with Bubble Guppy behind it so I’d love to be sitting right behind them.”
“You’ve also got Big Bad Bob who’s so strong and there’s a lot of speed in the race, Codrington Kid is very quick early, but if she can find the fence and stick to it hopefully she can make it through to the final next week and draw well.”
The Carina based trainer breed’s and own’s his own dogs and while he is excited about Shot Clock’s prospects it’s not all about winning.
“She’s always had ability I’ve just had to nurse her along,” he said.
“It’s never been about chasing money, it’s the love of the sport, I work full time it’s more fun for me as long as I take her home sound every week.”
Despite racing in career best form Shot Clock’s track career is winding down.
“I’ve already got everything lined up for the breeding side of things,” Medcalf said.
“Next time she comes on season that’ll be it for her racing career, which wouldn’t be too far away I don’t think.”
“Her mother is twelve years old now, she’s always produced reasonable litter’s, bread and butter dog’s I call them no superstar’s but as honest as anything.”
“We just keep our own breed and tinker along.”