‘Eddie’ ticks boxes on the way to Thursday night lights

By Pat McLeod

Exciting Ipswich Derby winner, Fast Eddie, has ticked all the boxes leading into his Thursday night Albion Park debut, a heat of the $45,000 Brisbane Rising Stars. 

According to trainer Ben McCarthy the home-bred Aston Rupee and Pearl Za Diamond chaser has had the right preparation and is boxed well for the age restricted event.

The trainer is based at Somerset, which is west of Brisbane. 

“I am excited going into this race,” McCarthy said. 

“He is still such a young dog and these races are great to be involved in. They are an important stepping stone for him - in very good company, but not racing the best yet.

“I also believe he is certainly not outclassed in this series.

“There are some very good dogs in the Rising Stars, such as (Wentworth Park record breaker) Dalwhinnie, but also others that are racing very well at Albion Park already.

“This was always the natural progression for ‘Eddie’. With or without the Rising Stars, he was always going to come across to Albion Park.”

Fast Eddie was gifted to McCarthy by his father, long-time successful trainer, owner and breeder John McCarthy.

The whole litter is showing promise with Fast Eddie claiming the recent $30,000-to-the-winner Ipswich Derby.

Litter sister Mossy Boots was placed second in the Ipswich Futurity and then put in an incredible run to take out third in the Group 1 Ipswich Cup.

Mossy Boots is also among Thursday night’s five heats of the Rising Stars.

‘Eddie’ was knocked out of the Ipswich Cup series at the heats stage.

“After he bowed out of the Ipswich Cup I took him away and then gave him a look at Albion Park last week,” McCarthy said. 

“I tried him out of the boxes over 520 metres because he has never been over that distance at Albion before.

“I was pretty pleased with how we went, about 30.30 seconds. His first section wasn't great, which means he can certainly improve on that.”

Fast Eddie has raced twice at Albion Park over the 395 metre distance and with the 520 metre trial, McCarthy believes the youngster is ready for the ‘Thursday night lights’ at Headquarters.

“He is definitely a different dog since he last raced at Albion. He has come on a long way,” McCarthy said.

“Now that he has also trialled over the 520 metres, he has no excuses.

“If he can get out reasonable, he has got good acceleration and with hopefully no trouble early, his mid-section is normally his best and where he really gets going. But, we will wait and see what happens.

“I believe Eddie is a sub-30 second dog at Albion Park. After running 30.45 seconds at Ipswich, you can normally take half a second off the Ipswich run in a comparison with Albion Park if your dog handles both tracks equally.

“So, I would expect him to go 30 seconds or just under at this stage at Albion.”

McCarthy said he ‘was fine’ with box six in a very competitive field.

“There are a couple of smart ones in his heat on Thursday night including More Than Money (box five), who obviously loves Albion Park,” McCarthy said.

“My dog doesn't mind coming out of the outside boxes because he normally goes straight.

“The dog outside of him, Sister Riley, is his litter sister and is better suited to 600 metres.

“She is not the quickest away so he should get a clear run from there and More Than Money can get away quickly, so hopefully that dog will give Eddie a cart across.”

John McCarthy also has two others from the litter in the heats – Dish For Dash in heat one (race four) and Affluent in heat two (race five).

Other strong contenders across the five heats include Darren Russell’s Wreck James, John Corrigan’s Uno Nangar while Tom Tzouvelis has Ipswich Cup winner Autumn Storm and also impressive littermates Shaula and Soily.