Juanita hoping her laziest chaser can find gold in under 24 seconds

By Pat McLeod

In-form Rockhampton trainer Juanita Thompson is both rapt and bewildered by the exciting form spike in the laziest dog in her kennel, Blake’s John.

In fact the dog’s past three wins in a row has her believing he can upset Christine Pollard’s speed machine Edgewood in Wednesday night’s Rockhampton QGOLD Final over 407 metres.

“He (Blake’s John) is in fabulous form at the moment,” Thompson said.

Thompson is based east of Rockhampton at the hamlet of Tungamull.

“He has grown a set of wings," Thompson said. 

“I really am not sure why ‘John’ has run into such good form recently. The bottom line with this dog is that he is lazy, extremely lazy.

“You are flat out getting him to go for a walk at home and he doesn't do any running. My grandson, Cooper, boxes him and after every race he has to carry him over to the wash bay. He won't even walk back.

“He is happy enough to walk out to the boxes. Then he has his race and it is as if he is saying, ‘I have done my bit, now you can do the rest. You have to carry me back to the kennels’.

“Of course the penny drops when he is in the box and he is all business then, but I also wonder whether he gets around quickly because he just wants to hurry up and get it over and done with so he can go and rest again.”

Over recent weeks, for just under 24 seconds, the Warren Nicholls-owned and bred chaser is anything but lazy.

Capitalising on a quick start, Blake’s John is in career-best form.

“When Warren first sent John to us he didn’t have particularly high expectations of the dog,” Thompson says.

“And, the first few months weren’t all that encouraging when he also had some minor injuries. However now he is really exceeding expectations. He is really firing and that has surprised us.”

Thompson says Blake John’s recent form and the fact he will be jumping from box two gives her confidence leading into the $10,010-to-the-winner QGOLD Final.

She says Edgewood (box eight) is the undoubted main danger.

“Edgewood is a very fast dog with a big finish,” Thompson said. 

“The hope is that John can get away to his usual good start, get some clean air and really be hard to chase down.

“Because he has been racing so well in recent weeks I am quite nervous about his start and won’t be watching that. I will wait until he jumps, then I will watch the race.”

Thompson has three chances in the Final, but rates Blake’s John as her best chance.

She also has litter sister Infamous exiting box three and Nakisha out of box five.

“Infamous was flat for a little bit but now is starting to find her form again,” she said.

“I think she lost a little bit of confidence for a while, but last week she performed a lot better, she really found her feet again.

“Nakisha, is a very honest girl and very consistent. She is rarely out of the top three placings. She puts in 100 per cent every time. She is probably not as quick as the other two, but is certainly strong.”