The all-important blitz at the start of the Del-Re National A. G. Hunter Cup has had a good working over in a special Grand Circuit edition of Burning Questions.
Spirit Of St Louis reinsman Jack Callaghan and Clayton Tonkin, one half of Stewart-Tonkin Racing, joined Jason Bonnington and Andy Gath to preview a great weekend of Victorian harness racing.
First of the six big Burning Questions was a look at the all-important start to the $500,000 feature.
“I think Honolua Bay’s got the speed to be forward,” Tonkin said of his $5.50 chance. “If Mach Dan showed the speed that he did Miracle Mile time, he’d definitely have a real chance of getting across them, but he just hasn’t been coming off the arm like that for a fair while.
“There’s a lot of speed there, Jack’s horse is very fast. It’s going to be interesting the first little bit and they’ve got to remember it’s over 2700, so they can’t go all out in the first 100.”
Callaghan remains optimistic Spirit Of St Louis can match any early charge from those on the outside and be in a strong position to decide his path from there.
“I’m pretty confident I’m going to hold up,” he said. “I think the start is fairly even in my few experiences at it, and he’s shown in the past he flies the gate. I definitely expect him to be in the front around the first bend and hopefully we don’t cop too much pressure after that. I’m really keen to hold up.”
Enjoy the full episode:
