‘Match fitness’ a concern for lightly-raced Pringle Tiger

By Terry Wilson

Trainer Darren Russell fears his lightly-raced sprinter Pringle Tiger could be lacking some 'match fitness' when the fawn dog contests a heat of the Easter Trophy at Albion Park on Thursday night.

Pringle Tiger is the progeny of two of Russell’s former star performers and has drawn box four in one of the three heats of the $18,500 event.

He is by dual Group 1-winner Bago Bye Bye from handy bitch Javens.

Bago Bye Bye's two big wins were in a New Zealand Cup at Addington before a Queensland Cup over 710 metres at Albion Park.

At his best, Pringle Tiger would be well up to this event but is resuming after a lengthy break and Russell is cautious that he may need more time.

The dog raced over the Ipswich 431 metres in October last year then was off the scene until resuming in an Ipswich solo trial over 520 metres in 30.93 seconds on March 18.

“He’s right to race and I was satisfied with the trial, but he is lacking a bit of match-day experience,” Russell said.

Russell is based out near Rathdowney at Innisplain.

“He has a bit of ability, but he’s over three years old now," Russell said. 

Pringle Tiger has only had 24 race starts for four wins and 13 placings.

This record includes two wins (30.08 and 30.15 seconds), two seconds and three thirds over the Albion Park 520 metre journey.

Meanwhile, Buccan-based trainer Jeff Crawford will go up against the power of the Tim Britton and Martina Kirrilidis kennel in the 710 metre event, hoping to beat that combination for the second week in a row.

Ace’s Chance (from a Orson Allen and Rear Chance litter) beat the Kirrilidis-prepared Maid In Space into third place in a 710 metre race last week and goes into this week in red-hot form with six wins and four placings from his past 11 Albion Park 710 metre starts dating back to December 9.

Making Ace’s Chance all that harder to beat is the fact the black and white dog has drawn box one, the same as last week.

As a point of interest, Ace’s Chance has not drawn wider than box three at its last nine ‘Creek’ starts.

This time around Kirrilidis has four runners up against Ace’s Chance  - Maid In Space (box two), Akela Ola (box four), Shine A Light (box seven) and Akela Ninjutsu (box eight).

Akela Ninjutsu appears to have the best chance of that quartet with back-to-back 710 metre wins at 'The Creek' in March, running 41.96 and 42.10 seconds, before a last-up sixth behind Ace’s Chance last week.

Based on recent success, it could be suggested that Crawford is more at home preparing shorter-distance campaigners, but he is quick to shoot that theory down in flames.

As a matter of fact, the first greyhound Crawford owned and trained was a campaigner named Spiral Magic in his days located at Llandilo in the outer Western Sydney suburbs.

That bitch turned out to be one pretty smart stayer, making two Group 1 Finals in her career, one a Futurity at Wentworth Park and the other a National Distance Championship at The Meadows in Melbourne.

And, in more recent times there was another pretty good one Crawford had at Buccan.

“Prior to Ace’s Chance I had Classy Ethics,” Crawford said.

“She won the Group 1 Queensland Cup in 2020 and was a finalist in the Queensland Greyhound Of The Year to Oh Mickey in 2021.”

Of Ace’s Chance, who was a reserve for the Gold Cup earlier this year, Crawford could not be happier.

“This dog is going really well at the moment and since he has been here he has had 18 starts for seven wins and eight placings and won $62,000 for me," Crawford said.

There is a tale about how Ace’s Chance came to be with Crawford.

He originally gave away a dog to a southern interest who, in turn, was in the process of sending four chasers to Darwin.

“During a conversation I told him I was looking for a stayer and he told me one of the four dogs going to Darwin might be a bit good for up there,” Crawford said.

And, so Ace's Chance lobbed at Crawford’s kennel.