Queen chasing Maturity Classic crown

LOCAL greyhound trainer Ian Garland was meant to be flying to Sydney this Saturday.

But a welcome pivot will instead find him at The Meadows, chasing Group 1 glory with his promising youngster Bernardo’s Queen in the $100,000-to-the-winner Maturity Classic Final (525m).

The daughter of Bernardo and Auspicious Queen qualified for the final – worth $150,000 in total prizemoney – with a heat win at The Meadows on Saturday night.

She has drawn nicely in box one.

While Bernardo’s Queen and six other finalists will have the job ahead of them up against star on the rise Wrongly Accused, who mowed down Australian Cup winner Dramatical in the heat of the night last Saturday, Garland is stoked just to be in with a chance.

The current star of his Longlea-based kennel has shown plenty of progress since her victory in the Pink Diamond Princess Final (500m) on her home track at Bendigo last month with a pair of wins at The Meadows and looks primed to make her presence felt.

“She found heaps of trouble on Saturday night – she was last at the winning post the first time,” said Garland, a well-known former Bendigo hairdresser, who has been training greyhounds part-time for more than 30 years.

“She got knocked into the rail, but just chased hard and rounded them up.

“She’s very tenacious and just loves it. She walks into the track likes she owns.

“A cheeky girl, who just wants to win.”

Her heat win followed an incident-packed run the previous week at The Meadows when she did not finish.

 

Bernardo’s Queen’s finals appearance has forced a slight rejig in Garland’s travel plans.

He was originally scheduled to fly to Sydney with his son to watch the following day’s Tim Tszyu-Errol Spence Jr fight at Afterpay Arena.

“I was going Saturday morning, so I’ve had to do a bit of rearranging of flights,” Garland said.

“I’m now flying out at 6am on Sunday with my son and a few of his mates.

“Hoping to be flying out happy.”

Garland is under no illusions as to the task confronting them.

“If Wrongly Accused gets a clear run, it will just win. It doesn’t matter what the rest of us do,” he said.

“Being honest, he’s probably got four lengths on the rest of the field ability-wise, but he’s got box five.

“There’s a lot of speed in (boxes) six and seven (Blink And Miss and Storm Hustler) and they’ll want the rail.

“If Wrongly Accused misses the start by half a length, it’s probably anyone’s race and she could win it.

“It not every day you race for a $100,000 first prize.

“She has got to begin a bit better than she did last start, but she’s in with a chance.”

Equal third favourite in early betting markets behind Wrongly Accused and Off The Chart, Bernardo’s Queen has won seven of 12 career starts and been placed once for $40,705 in earnings.

Garland is currently enjoying some success with Bernado’s Queen’s sister Azzurro, who won for the second time in three weeks at The Meadows on Saturday night, pleasing follow ups to her luckless effort in the Pink Diamond Maiden Sprinter Final at Bendigo.