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Dog swoops on Longford Cup

3 minute read

Talented middle-distance galloper Swoop Dog is Devonport Cup bound following an emphatic win in the Cressy Chaff Cutters Longford Cup over 1800 metres in Longford on Sunday.

Swoop Dog was sensationally backed in from $6.50 to start the $3.30 favourite and punters were lining up to collect long before the gelded son of Husson crossed the line.

Rider Siggy Carr allowed the five-year-old to settle midfield while The Risk Factor and Argyle Beach matched strides in front, setting a solid tempo.

When Carr sent her charge around the field 600m from home and shot clear at the 400-metre peg, it was left to Perun to issue the challenge but as soon as Swoop Dog caught sight of the challenger in the straight, he slipped into another gear and was drawing clear on the line.

It was Blacker's sixth win in the race and the 10th for the family with the trainer's stepfather George Blacker having trained four before retiring.

"Before he went for a spell, he went to Flemington and was very competitive against some really good horses, so we brought him home and gave him a good spell to get ready for what I believe will be his best season," Blacker said.

"He is a good horse and his first two starts he did what I expected, and this race looked ideal, and he was backed accordingly."

Swoop Dog resumed from the spell with beyond midfield results in the Newmarket Handicap and the weight-for-age Conquering Stakes.

"He will now go to the Devonport Cup in 10 days, and he will be very hard to beat again."

Carr was full of praise for the former star three-year-old.

"He did it so easily today and I am rapt to be riding him in the Devonport Cup," Carr said.

"When he was in front in the home straight, he sort of started to wait for them, but when he caught sight of the other horse coming at us, he just found another gear."

The $125,000 Ladbrokes Devonport Cup will be run over 1880m in Devonport on Wednesday week and Blacker is banking on the former Tasmanian Guineas winner to go one better than last year when second to White Hawk, beaten a neck in the last stride.

The crowd was arguably one of the best on record with stands packed throughout the day and barely a space to plonk a chair by mid-afternoon as locals and visitors poured into the iconic venue that is used only once a year for racing.

The Longford venue however is the central training complex for northern-based trainers.


Racing and Sports

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