Gippsland greyhound trainer Steven White is hoping the Traralgon Cup can provide him with his first group race win since moving from NSW to Buln Buln East 15 months ago.
White is entering the $67,000 final with confidence given the form of his underrated greyhound Don’t Kid Me, who staved off local hero Jesaulenko in a heat of the Traralgon Cup last Saturday night.
WATCH: Don’t Kid Me (box seven) and Jesaulenko (box eight) battle it out for first place in last weeks Traralgon Cup heats.“He has come a long way in recent months. I’ve been stepping him up in harder races lately but he just keeps getting better. He has had a couple of city wins at The Meadows recently, he won a Cranbourne Cup heat and ran third in the Cranbourne Cup final, he ran second in an Australian Cup heat and now he has won a heat of the Traralgon Cup,” White said proudly.
Don’t Kid Me boasts an outstanding record of 20 wins from 52 starts, and despite an excellent form patch that includes a spectacular victory over hometown hero Jesaulenko in a Traralgon Cup heat last weekend, he is one of the outsiders in the final with TAB offering odds of $26.
“Every week he runs around at ridiculously good odds. He is pretty underrated and if he can come out running on Saturday night you never know,” White said.
White is no stranger to winning feature races, as a decade ago he trained arguably the best greyhound in Australia, Paua To Burn.
“Greyhounds like Paua To Burn don’t come along every day. She won four Group 1 races and almost a quarter of a million dollars in prize money, which was enormous back then. I regularly brought her down to Victoria to compete in the major races,” White recalled.
“I’ve enjoyed a bit of success since moving to Victoria as well, as I’ve had finalists in the Cranbourne Cup (twice) and the Geelong Cup…but winning the Traralgon Cup would be really special.”
