Dulceria to resume at Ipswich with targets in sight

By Alex Nolan

Townsville Cup winner Dulceria will resume at Ipswich on Saturday as trainer Matt Heilbronn plots a path towards next month’s Ipswich Young Guns and a possible Golden Easter Egg campaign.

Heilbronn identified Dulceria as a talent early in her career and had his beliefs confirmed when she won the Townsville Cup at just 22-months-old last September.

She has since placed in the Listed Rising Stars final won by Sunshine Delight, qualified for the Bogie Leigh Futurity Final won by Tungsten Miss and finished third in a heat of the G2 Golden Sands behind freak chaser Jungle Deuce.

Saturday’s Fifth Grade event will be her first run since she finished seventh behind Zipping Kyrgios in a heat of the Group 1 Gold Bullion at Albion Park on January 27.

Heilbronn said Dulceria had been trialling well in the lead-up and has outlined a rough plan for the next couple of months.

“The plan is to go to get through the Young Guns, see how she comes through it and go from there,” he said.

“We had considered the Bundaberg Cup but that clashes with the Golden Easter Egg.”

Dulceria was given a look at the home of the Golden Easter Egg – Wentworth Park – in mid-January when third in a heat of the National Futurity.

“She came within a length of making the final but was second emergency,” Heilbronn said.

“Her trials (at Wentworth Park) suggest she could run a 29.60 there.”

Dulceria has collected more than $73,000 in prizemoney from just 29 starts for eight wins and shapes as one of the leading contenders in the Ipswich Young Guns series.

However Saturday’s Fifth Grade over 520 metres isn’t exactly a put in, take out job.  

The Pauline Byers-trained Spring Sonic, who jumps from box seven, is in good form and completed the course in 30.26 recently.

Davey Fawner finished runner-up to Showdown in a mixed third and fourth grade event at his latest outing and will leave from box two.

Dulceria is two from five at Ipswich and boasts a best time of 30.35.

“She’s just got to get to the first turn on Saturday,” Heilbronn said.

“Hopefully she’s got enough freshness in her legs to run a 5.29 first section again.

“If she does, she’ll be hard to beat.”

The race provides an interesting curtain-raiser to the main event at Ipswich on Saturday, the Ipswich Auction Sprint Series Final worth $14,000 to the winner. 

The Ipswich Young Guns heats, for greyhounds aged 30 months or younger, take place on Saturday, March 5, with the final to be run seven days later.