Krug headlines a huge night at Redcliffe

By Adam Hamilton

IN THE moments after Krug delivered one of the most memorable moments in Redcliffe’s harness racing history, Cran Dalgety tried to bring some perspective to it.

Krug covered plenty of ground from a wide draw around the tight triangular track in the Redcliffe Derby, did all the work, smashed 0.8sec off the all-aged track record and seemed to win with something left in the tank.

“He went super, but I still think he’ll need to improve a few lengths if he’s going to beat a horse like Expensive Ego and others,” Dalgety said.

“I went there quite bullish tonight, but the way he won and how well he recovered straight after it showed me he was probably 10-15 per cent fitter than I thought I had him.

“Ants (Anthony Butt) drove him bad to drive him good, if you know what I mean. You just have to be handy on these tracks, so he covered ground to make sure he was right up there when it mattered.”

Krug dashed to the front down the back straight and Butt kept his mind on the job as he scored by 7.1m from the handy Captain Crusader in a 1min54.4sec mile rate for 2040m. That smashed the 1min55.2sec track record Bodhi Tree set on May 18, 2018.

Dalgety will let the dust settle before deciding what’s next.

“I’ll see how he is Monday morning. I’m 50-50 on whether I run him again next week (at Albion Park),” he said.

“It’s either run him in a sprint race next week or I’ll have to really keep the work up to him.”

Krug’s main Queensland target, the $250,000 Group 1 The Rising Sun, is on Saturday week at Albion Park.

Under the conditions, Krug being a three-year-old will get a preferential draw in The Rising Sun. The three-year-olds, of which there is likely to be only two in the race, will draw barriers one and two.

“That’s why we’re going in the race. You wouldn’t take on the top four-year-olds otherwise. It’s the beauty of the race,” Dalgety said.

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EXCITING former Kiwi pacer L L Cool J overcame an early scare to post his biggest Queensland win in $50,700 Group 2 Redcliffe Gold Cup (2613m) last night.

Trained by Vicki Rasmussen and driven by Shane Graham, L L Cool J skipped away from position one in the standing-start feature, but got back into a pace quickly enough to settle third, regroup and allow Graham to whiz around and take the lead.

Three-time Queensland Horse of the Year, Colt Thirty One, began well, made an early move to sit parked then grab the one-one trail. He loomed ads a big danger in the run.

But Graham “pinched” a 31.4sec second split of the last mile then put the foot down for a 56.6sec last half and 27.8sec closing quarter to win by 4.2m.

L L Cool J has been a great buy for owner Jeroen Nieuwenburg, having raced 11 times in Queensland for eight wins, two seconds and a third.

Colt Thirty One never seriously threatened, but did enough first-up in third spot. He may back-up in the star-studded Wondais Mate next Saturday night where King Of Swing, Spankem, Copy That and Turn It Up are headed.

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FORMER brilliant Kiwi pacer Tintin In America scored one of his biggest siring wins when Teddy Disco won Redcliffe’s only Group 1 race, the $100,750 Garrards Redcliffe Yearling Sales 2YO final, last night.

Trained by Shawn Grimsey and driven by Nathan Dawson, Teddy Disco did all the work outside the leader and found plenty to win in a 1min57.8sec mile rate for 1780m.

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A DARING and aggressive Pete McMullen drive won the Redcliffe Oaks for Heston Blue Chip filly Shes Miss Devine.

The Graham Dwyer-trained filly did all the work, looked a sitting shot for favourite Sporty Dancer on the home bend, but just kept finding to win by 3.4m in a 1min56.2sec mile rate for 2040m.