More Than Money on track for Ipswich Derby success

By Pat McLeod

The box draw may not be to her liking, but Pamela Field believes her young flyer, More Than Money, has one crucial ingredient for success in the Ipswich Derby Final on Saturday night.

“He likes this track, a lot,” Field said in almost hushed tones.

“He hasn’t raced at Ipswich much, but he did a lot of trialing here when he was young. He isn’t a great starter, but in the heat last week he started very well.

“Maybe that is because of the track, but we will see on this Saturday night.”

More Than Money, a $2.30 early favourite, will jump from box seven in the $30,000-to-the-winner finale.

As Field points out, this is a tough race to win.

Lurking in box eight is Jedda Cutlack’s Duffman, who etched a 30.01 second run in the heats.

“Every one of these dogs in the Final would be a deserved winner,” Field says.

“This will be a very, very hard race to win.”

In fact, if Field can be successful, it will be the highlight of her and husband’s John’s 50-plus years in greyhound racing.

“We have had some good dogs over the years,” she says.

“It is difficult to compare, but he (More Than Money) is definitely shaping as the best and a win on Saturday night would be the highlight of our time in the sport.”

To date, More Than Money has raced 38 times for 11 wins, 12 placings and $90,650 in prize money.

Field explains that her Aston Rupee and More Than Magic chaser wasn’t an instant track success story.

“When he first started trialing we thought he would be very good, but then he had a slight injury,” she says.

“He started racing early, at about 18 months of age, and to be honest, he did not show much ability to start with. But, then, in recent months, he has really started to come on.

“I believe he is just a late maturer and is now finding his racing rhythm.”

More Than Money certainly caught the eye of the industry with a series of outstanding performances at Albion Park, including a third to Tom Tzouvelis’ Autumn Storm (a finalist in the Ipswich Futurity) in the Molly Campbell Silver Dollars.

“We are hopeful of a good result in this Saturday’s Final,” Field says.

“We would have preferred a different box to the seven, but there is no use complaining because that is not going to change anything.

“He just needs to start well. Looking across the field there are so many fast beginners, so it will be just as important to come home really strongly.

“Duffman is an obvious danger, but so is Ned Snow’s Extreme Tension (box five) and Backcreek Benny (trained by Selena Zammit).

“Any outcome in this race wouldn’t surprise, as long as they get around safely.”

Field says her and husband John have no intention of scaling back their greyhound interests, training out of their 10-acre property at Logan Reserve, south of Brisbane.

“We are still enjoying it and while we are healthy and able to do everything comfortably, we will keep going,” she said.

“Plan B is to focus on breeding and rearing and pass the dogs onto someone else to train. But, we are not there yet.”

Saturday night’s 12-race Ipswich program also includes the Ipswich Futurity Final, the Prostate Cancer Cup Final over 630 metres and the Ipswich Cup Prelude Final over 520 metres.