Crawford optimistic of improvement through Vince Curry Memorial series

By Jordan Gerrans

Trainer Jeff Crawford expects to see plenty of improvement from his debutant litter mates from Saturday evening’s heats of the Vince Curry Memorial series as they progress through to the semi-final stage.

The Buccan-based trainer presented the previously unraced Brightest Gunn and Steel Gunn for the rich maiden series at Ipswich on Saturday evening.

The litter mates – from a Superior Panama and Nanza Gunn litter – both began as well-supported commodities in the market for their first race day experiences.

The “Gunn” pair both progressed through to the next stage of the series with Brightest Gunn a heat winner in 31.07 seconds while Steel Gunn was forced to settle for second in his heat.

Brightest Gunn ran into an array of trouble in the fourth heat of the Group 3 event but showed a strong motor late to run over the top of Ringbark Razor and Honey Bar Cool.

While acknowledging there is still work to be done with the red brindle bitch, experienced dog man Crawford was over the moon with the way she finished her 520 metre heat.

“That was an enormous run,” the trainer said.

“Again, she lacked field experience but if she was half a length better at the top turn, then she would have been able to get through that gap and probably won by a margin, while running some nice time.

“Her desire to come back after getting that check was a really good result from the race, on top of the win.”

The litter mates started their first races as $1.65 chances in the market.

While they had run impressive times in their trials leading up their Saturday assignment, Crawford thought they would have gone quicker on debut.

“They probably did not race up to their trial times,” Crawford said.

“They had gone significantly quicker in their one and only 500 metre trial, they ran in the 30.40s – both of them.

“I thought with a clear run, they could easily replicate that but that is the difference between a solo trial and field trial.

“Both the dogs had a slightly rushed preparation to get them up to the 520 metres, they both had one two dog trial each.

“The difference on the night was that inexperience in a field is quite telling and particularly with Steel Gunn, who had the opportunity to take an inside run and he shifted out instead.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s semi-finals of the three-week series, the Group-race winning trainer expects his kennel newbie's to only improve from their first hit-out.

“Both dogs will absolutely benefit from their runs,” he said.

“It will be massive what they have learnt from that debut run.

“It was a big night for many first starters, getting race rugs on and being in the kennels for an extended period of time and going through the scales.

“My dogs seemed to cope under those conditions for the first time well.”

The “Gunn” pair are raced by Western Australian-based owner Jayson Gunning, who has had a long association with the Crawford camp.

Crawford previously had Radar Gunn in his team for Gunning, with the dog targeting the Dave Brett Memorial Maiden series back in 2019.

Radar Gunn would go on to qualify for Group Finals, including the Topgun Stayers and the Sydney Cup.

Gunning likes to spread his dogs around to a number of trainers throughout Australia, with progeny from the Superior Panama and Nanza Gunn litter racing in several states.

Crawford says the entire litter – with six making it to the races so far – are showing that they are ready to get to 600 metres, despite only having 30 race starts as a group.

Looking ahead to the upcoming semi-finals, Crawford says Brightest Gunn will be searching for an inside box while noting Steel Gunn would prefer an outside alley if they are to land in the big Final seven days' later. 

“If we can get the right box, they might be able to improve a heap on their heat,” he said.

“They are nice dogs.”

The Crawford kennel is also finding success at Capalaba with Out Of Scope winning his third race on the bounce at the grass track on Sunday afternoon.

Eight heats of the Vince Curry series were run on Saturday night with the top four from each heat going through to the semi-finals.

Hara's Boots – who is prepared by Tarquin Neal – was the fastest heat winner on Saturday night, stopping the clock at 30.46 seconds.