Good Odds that Cobber will be spot on for Cup heats

By Jordan Gerrans

Frank Hurst feels Good Odds Cobber has already justified his decision to knock back a big money offer for the promising dog and has declared he is at his peak ahead of Thursday’s Brisbane Cup heats.

In what is set to be a salivating evening of greyhound racing from Albion Park, a dazzling contingent of 14 Group 1 winners will grace the track across the 12 races.

A total of four of the races are Queensland Cup heats with the remainder for the show-piece Brisbane Cup.

The cream of the crop are on show across the heats for both the Group 1 Brisbane Cup and Queensland Cup this Thursday night, with the chasers across the 12 races accruing a total of $14.3 million in stakes. 

Good Odds Cobber accounts for $202,700 of that from his 20 career victories and a European offer was recently shut down for the son of Fernando Bale of around $150,000 for the greyhound.

The $150,000 that was offered up will look like loose change to Hurst and his team if their star chaser can claim the $1 million Brisbane Cup in the 2024 Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival.

“I think the decision has been justified already,” Hurst said from his Londonderry kennel about knocking back the big offer.

“He has been up north for a few weeks and he has picked up around $40,000 without being too successful.

“He has only one the once from four starts but he has run close in a few other races.

“He has more than justified himself in my opinion. It was not hard for us to say no to the offer as we are established as trainers.”

Before Good Odds Cobber’s first race day appearance at Albion Park late last month, the Group 2 Gosford Cup winner had not had a 500 metre run for the best part of six weeks.

Hurst has sent the dog to respected New South Wales trainer Dave Irwin at Warragai Creek – just outside Grafton – for his northern campaign.

Good Odds Cobber has had four northern runs leading into Thursday’s heats and the experienced conditioner believes his dog is exactly where he wants him to be.

The entire plan was based around lifting the chaser’s fitness levels back up to the required level for Thursday’s heats.

While Hurst has lamented box draws and luck in running, Good Odds Cobber has won a Brisbane Cup prelude and finished second in the Origin Sprint over the last month.

He will need to contend with the six alley on Thursday evening in the fourth heat of the program on Thursday night.

“We have not had much luck with the draws but he is a very good dog,” the veteran dog man said.

“He went up with this week being his main goal, everything else along the way was just what was on.

“He was pretty short of a run when he got there and Dave has done a good job with him since.

“His trial time is improving every time we have trialled him at Grafton.

“If I am being truthful, I have been really happy with his runs but he just has not had much luck with his draws and in the runs.

“He is ready to go and done everything right but he will need to overcome a few obstacles to get there.”

Good Odds Cobber is one of a glut of dogs set to race on Thursday night who are eligible for a $10,000 bonus.

Heat winners on Thursday night that have gone through a designated feature race path through the earlier stages of the carnival – such as the Flying Amy, Origin Series, Super Stayers and Cyndie’s Magic, among others - receive the $10,000 bonus.

There is more than 30 dogs eligible across the heats of the Brisbane and Queensland Cups. 

The Million Dollar Chase-winning Hurst has left the training duties to Irwin in recent weeks but will come north if his chaser qualifies for the Group 1 decider next Thursday.

Hurst was quick to praise the Northern NSW mentor.

“There is none better really,” he said.

“He has done a great job with the dog.”

The leading Hurst kennel just has the one race dog these days - Good Odds Cobber – with plenty of pups on their way through.

As of Tuesday morning, Good Odds Cobber is an $8 chance for the Brisbane Cup in early markets with Explicit and Mackenna the equal favourites for the event at $6.