By Isaac Murphy
A week prior to the Eric Thomson Memorial heats, Robert Jacobsen’s Brett Lee pup Preston Lee trialled 30.56 around headquarters.
The trainer thought that time might see his 19-month-old scrape through to the final of the time-honoured maiden.
Now, a fortnight later Preston Lee lines up tonight’s favourite after a scintillating 30.08 heat run, and Jacobsen thinks he could have something special.
Preston Lee went bang from box one in his heat; 5.49 early, 11.72 down the back and 12.87 home on the way to the 30.08 clip - the quickest of all heats, giving Jacobsen the surprise of his life.
“I probably pushed him a little bit early after the breakers told me he was something special at fourteen months, he was just going steady at first but gradually started improving in his post to posts and jump outs in the lead-up to the heats,” Jacobsen said.
“It happened quickly with him when he went about eight lengths quicker in his heat than he’d ever gone before.
“I think it came down to the fact he was racing other dogs, which propelled him to go quicker it’s a good sign he’s a real competitor.
“I was tossing up whether to put him in the race a week out, I thought at best he’d run a place in the heat and make the final for some good experience, but he’s gone a hell of a lot better than I thought he would.”
Jacobsen outlined just how significant the jump was from the trial track to race day and couldn’t wait to see how far he could push the pup.
“His first section (5.49) was a big surprise because he’d trialled in 5.75; I really liked the way he complemented it with 11.72 down the back and 12.87 was a good result home considering his age and inexperience,” he said.
“At 19 months he hasn’t had a lot of work yet especially over the five hundred, so I’m really looking forward to him taking a couple of tenths off his run home with a few more miles in his legs.”
Jacobsen has had to shift his focus from a participant in the race to potential winner of the time-honoured series, but there are still plenty of questions to be answered tonight.
“I’ve gone from thinking the race was a little bit beyond him to now having him as one of the main dangers,” he said.
“It’d be a brilliant way to start a career winning an Eric Thomson, there’s some good names on that list.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he goes from the eight, it’s probably the worst box a young dog can draw but he surprised me last week and he could well and truly do it again.
“He’s a pretty smart pup, hopefully he just keeps out of trouble early and motors on down the back and we see that quicker run home.”