Bad And Boujee a danger in Dashing Corsair

By Isaac Murphy

Paul McIlveen nominated Bad And Boujee for a Fifth Grade 700-metre race a fortnight ago at Albion Park, more out of frustration than anything.

Precisely 42.12 seconds after the jump, the move looked more a masterstroke, as the afterthought became a Winter Carnival contender.

Like many young stayers, the journey to get to the 700 metres hadn’t been easy for the daughter of My Bro Fabio, filled with potential she just couldn’t keep up over the shorter trips, but seems to have finally found her calling.

The bitch followed her debut performance with an admirable placing, as McIlveen comes to grips with training a week in week out stayer who’ll test the waters in Thursday’s Listed Dashing Corsair.

“I didn’t think there’d be a 700-metre race on back-to-back weeks for her, so I gave her a light week with the intention of running her over the 600 last start,” McIlveen said.

“On the Tuesday at 10am they put out they needed nominations for a 700, I think that’s going to be her distance going forward so I threw her in, but I think the easy week I’d given her on the lead probably just told towards the end of the race.

“She’s a real momentum bitch and when she came together with the Burman’s stayer Smart Lilly at the 600-metre boxes it halted both of their runs, but she did well to hang on for third.”

McIlveen has trained a couple of handy stayers in the past and still saw plenty to like heading into this week’s heats.

“The signs I was looking for were still there, the way she cruised up to Smart Lilly down the back I thought she was going to go right on by like she’d done the week before, but I just had to remember it was only her second ever 700,” he said.

“She put herself in a lovely stalking position as she’d done the week before; when she gets left alone in the run, she just settles into that nice cruising speed which brings her into the race just at the right time.

“I’m not concerned about her running out the distance, it was just a combination of no work during the week and getting held up at the wrong time - she looked to be doing her best work into the catching pen her first 700.”

McIlveen is tempering his expectations with the bitch, who’ll give away plenty of experience to her rivals this week and clearly has her best racing in front of her.

“The races she’ll be involved with over the carnival have probably come six months too early for her, you look at some of her competition in her heat who have 60 and 70 starts to their name and are right in their prime when she’s just gone two-years-old,” he said.

“As a rule, you probably don’t see too many her age over the 700, the stayers tend to mature a little older and I’m sure she’s going to be better off for these experiences.

“It’s up to me to establish a routine for her each week that maximises her ability to go out and cover the ground the best she can every week, that’s something that’ll become clearer the more she races.”

The feeling out process begins this week in a hot heat of the Dashing Corsair, headlined by Queensland’s leading stayer Maggie Moo Moo, and McIlveen is keen to see what his bitch can do.

“There’s a lot of front-running stayers in her heat, we’ve raced Smart Lilly who should be quick out from the one, Barsandi’s been leading over the 600 metres and the New South Wales dog Prim And Proper likes to push forward too,” he said.

“I’d be hoping we can just let them go early and lob somewhere mid-field, if she can find the rail even better, she knows how to save ground and take a small gap if it’s there.

“There’s a few chasers in there with better staying credentials than her but I think we’ve timed her run well, she’s had two consecutive runs at Albion Park where they’re either returning from interstate or stepping up for the first time, I’d like to think we can make our way through to the Final.”

It's not McIlveen’s only chance on the night, he’s also engaged in the Group 2 Flying Amy with promising 21-month-old pup I’m The Bill.

“If you’d asked me a few weeks ago if I’m The Bill would be in the Flying Amy, it probably would have been a firm no but winning at Capalaba in 19.72 and running best of the day at Ipswich last start in 24.91 convinced me he deserved a start,” he said.

“I know it’s very different equating those trips to the Albion Park 520 metres, but both of those runs he stormed to the line, and he’s always given us the impression he’s going to be a 500-metre dog.

“He’s come up with a good draw (2), I’ll be hoping to see him make the most of that in the run to the first turn and then we’ll see what he’s made of against some very very good dogs.”

If it’s too tall an ask for the dog, McIlveen has a contingency plan that looks like an ideal launching pad for the dog’s career.

“If he came up with a result in the Flying Amy that’d be brilliant but the race we’ve got our eyes on is the Regional Origin Challenge, with heats at Ipswich the following Friday,” he said.

“As far as I know it’s for dogs who haven’t had a city win and unless he pulls off an upset in his Flying Amy heat, that restricted grade should suit him to a tee.

“If he’s able to qualify the Final, it is on the June 17 at Albion Park and is a $17,800 race which is tremendous money for young dogs like him and his kennel mate Sunshine Delight who are yet to make their mark in the city.”