QGOLD brings a ‘metro feel’ to regional racing

By Pat McLeod

Emerald trainer Christine Pollard says the advent of the QGOLD races has brought a metropolitan feel to country racing.

Pollard is based about three hours' drive west of the Rockhampton track and the tyranny of distance restricts her ability to give her better dogs a crack at city offerings.

It’s a 10-hour trek by road to Brisbane.

“To be honest I probably should have sent some of my better dogs away,” Pollard reflects.

“I don’t travel with them, so that does restrict you a bit. We like to breed and race our own. That is why we really look forward to the QGOLD races (restricted to Queensland-bred chasers).

“The prize money is attractive and something we normally don’t have access to.”

Two of Pollard’s team have won through to Wednesday night’s $10,010-to-the-winner QGOLD Final over 510 metres at Rockhampton.

“They are not the best of the litter, but they are nice dogs,” she says of Bossy Miss Bliss (box four) and Blue Ocean View (box seven).

“Bliss never seems to draw a decent box, so I don't really know what she can do. I had a look at her statistics and she has drawn five box eights in a row and then two box sevens and now box four.

“Bliss can run a bit of a quick early sectional, but Blue Ocean View is tardy away. He is as good as almost any dog going around, but just needs a rails draw.

“He actually posted the quickest post-to-post time of this litter, but he steps away half a length slower than the rest. Then he has to get into the race. So, he is in trouble straight away.

“Eventually I believe Bossy Miss Bliss might run a bit of distance, but the difficulty is finding those races here.

“She hasn't run the times that Blue Ocean View has run in trials, however I believe she is a better race dog.

"On Wednesday night I would have preferred both of mine to be drawn better, because they are both railer's. I am pleased to have both in the Final. It is a good achievement for them.”

Pollard says although there are dogs in the race ‘who can certainly run time’, she believes the QGOLD clash will be an even encounter.

She says the obvious danger is Sarina trainer Steve Scott’s Rockhampton Cup winner, Inevitable, who claimed his first win last week since returning from injury.

Pollard has eight runners across Wednesday night’s program, with plenty of interest in the performances of her three in the race before the QGOLD Final, a best eight race over 407 metres.

In this race she has Mark Sure Can (box two), a prolific winner who is having just his second start back after a serious injury, Edgewood (box three), the most successful of Pollard’s Fernando Bale and Bossy Miss Bella litter and Five Putt Cal (box four), the kennel’s ever-consistent, veteran performer.

Mark Sure Can had tallied 15 wins in a row before being outed with injury, and then ran third in his return to racing, in a heat of the recent Townsville Cup.

His statistics make impressive reading – 19 starts for 16 wins and two placings for $43,700 in prize money.

“He (Mark Sure Can) was out for a long time with a torn back muscle,” Pollard explains.

“I kept persevering with him and recently I took him to the track and he slipped about the quickest he has run in his life.

“The third in Townsville in some ways was good, because now we can all relax and not have the pressure of continuing his winning run each time he starts.

“But, he really is a week-to-week proposition after the injury. He was off the track for about six months, but he didn’t miss out on race nights.

“I would still put him in the trailer with the other race dogs and take him to the track. He was our lucky charm. He would travel to the track, have dinner, an ice cream and then come home. He loves it.”