A NIGHT to remember but a box draw to forget.
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That was the wash-up for Lara trainer Brooke Ennis after a bumper night of greyhound racing at Wannon Park on Wednesday.
Ennis was trackside as three of her chasers won their respective races, ensuring they would return to Warrnambool for the biggest night of the year.
Dream It and Little Regus qualified for the $100,000 Warrnambool Classic (450m) while Deadly Vane will chase the $60,000 Warrnambool Cup (450m).
But the box draws for the two features have dampened Ennis’ optimism about how well the trio will fare next Wednesday night.
Little Regus has drawn encouragingly and will start the classic out of box two. But Dream It, the quicker of the two, has drawn box seven.
Deadly Vane has box six for the cup, on the outside of the Jason Thompson-trained Black Magic Opal, the likely favourite.
Ennis, who trains with her husband Jamie, said the winning treble was her second, having achieved the feat at Warragul a couple of weeks ago.
“To get one winner at a track is super and you’re happy. To get three out of four, you couldn’t be more happy,” she said.
“That’s why we get up every day at the crack of dawn and drive all night to get home.
“I walked inside at a quarter to three this morning and got up at seven, usually I’m up at six.”
Ennis said her two classic contenders lived up to their potential in winning their semi-finals.
“Dream It, he was the first winner, he went super again. He’s always had ability. It just depends on whether he takes it to the race track or not,” she said.
“He’s a very fast dog, he just needs a bit of room to really do that on a race night, which can be hard. He lacks early pace which doesn’t help.
“Little Regus, he really surprised me running down Magic Diva. I thought he’d run with her really well but I didn’t think he’d get over her the way he did.”
Deadly Vane was likewise impressive in winning his Cup heat having ran second in the Bendigo Cup at his previous start.
But he has a tough task to upstage Black Magic Opal and Innocent Til, who were quicker in their qualifiers.
“The only thing is Black Magic Opal is on the inside of him and has a ton of speed early,” Ennis said.
“He should be up and gone which should give us a bit of room to match him.”
Warrnambool Classic field (Wednesday night, times in brackets): 1. Watta Good Dee (25.32), 2. Little Regus (25.20), 3. Sir Hugo (25.38), 4. Trail Blazing (25.18), 5. Magic Diva 25.30, 6. Elite Diva (25.36), 7. Dream It (25.05), 8. Cosmic Station (25.41). Emergencies: Black Foo (25.39), Scintillating (25.42).
Warrnambool Cup field: 1. Ronan Izmir (25.18), 2. Innocent Til (25.00), 3. Ollie Bale (25.16), 4. Dr. Don (25.26), 5. Black Magic Opal (24.85), 6. Deadly Vane (25.12), 7. Walk Hard (25.17), 8. Godric Gryfindor (25.15). Emergencies: Musquin Bale (25.26), Empire Allen (25.27).