Tickets Please hard to beat

Posted on July 24, 2008, 7:07am

There are no shortage of challengers, but the Portland trained Tickets Please is emerging as the dog to beat in this Saturday’s $1000 Elgrando Anniversary Cup final at Mount Gambier’s Tara Park Raceway.

The Mount Gambier Greyhound Club will stage a nine event card, starting at 12.45pm with the feature race, scheduled for 3.05pm.

Tickets Please, trained over the border by Robert Halliday was easily the more impressive of the two heat winners in qualifying on July 12 and is likely to start favourite with bookmakers and the TAB on Saturday.

Tickets Please is a green 2-year-old by Elite State out of Itza Rule and has won 10 of his 23 starts for $5485 in stake earnings to date.

He ran the 512m qualifier in 30.62 seconds, whilst the other heat winner, Call Me Princess was timed at 30.72 seconds.

Not much difference, but enough to sway the bookies and punters alike.

There will be five South Australian based greyhounds among the confirmed eight starters with the Barry Shepheard (Glencoe) trained Snow Limes possibly the best chance.

Snow Limes has drawn the No. 1 box, which will be a distinct advantage at Tara Park.

But Snow Limes must improve on her fourth placing in qualifying a fortnight ago. Shepheard also has the second emergency - Bourne Ambition - in his kennel.

Mount Gambier trainer Steve Bartholomew will prepare Addis Classic, Saturday’s only finalist which also qualified for the South Aussie Hotel Mount Gambier Gold Cup final in early April.

On that occasion, Addis Classic finished third behind Maxwell Stanley and Mauddie Stanley and from his third to Call Me Princess in qualifying for this final, must again be rated highly.

ROD MORRIS

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