Reason 3-1 to take Laurels but Lister clash annoys trainer
FARLOE REASON has been installed as 3-1 favourite by the sponsor for the £10,000 Betfred Laurels whichstarts with six heats over 470m at Belle Vue tomorrow, but trainer Charlie Lister is not a happy man despite also having one of the joint second-favourites in 6-1 chance Fear Zafonic.
"I enter two dogs for a competition and they get drawn together,” said Lister, “I’ve lost count of how many times that’s happened recently. I’m sick and tired of it and, like I threatened last year, I think we’ll probably do something aboutit.
“We don’t have as many greyhounds here as we used to and, if we put them all in one syndicate name, that would guarantee they’d be kept apart. I’ll have to discuss it with the owners, but wemight as well use the rules to our advantage.”
Both Farloe Reason, who fell in the Betfair East Anglian Derby second round at Yarmouth but subsequently moved well in a Belle Vue sprint trial, and Fear Zafonic, struck into inlast week’s Keith Swain Manchester Puppy Cup final at the Zoo, were in the wars in their most recent races, but Lister gave them a clean bill of health.
"They’re both fine, no problems at all,” he said, “though it’s not just Fear Zafonic being drawn in the same heat as Farloe Reason that concerns me because he’s got trap one again and they just don’t seem to win from the inside there these days.”
Ballymac Ruso, the Paddy Power Irish Derby third, and Boherna On Air are the other second favourites on the 6-1 mark with the first-named pitched in against the Lister duo in a red-hot fourth heat. The competition concludes with a Sky Sports-televised final on Tuesday, October 7.
BETTING
Betfred: 3 Farloe Reason, 6 Ballymac Ruso, Boherna On Air, Fear Zafonic, 10 Boherna Best, 12 Deanridge Fury, Mustang Garcia, Plough Lane, 16 Farley Magic, 20 Barnfield Mike, Mancini, 25 Centaur Marine, Mako Magic, Star Of Twilight, 33 Kylegrove Top, 50 Blindin Bell, Cortsway Giants, Drink Up Zorro, Droopys Billy, Farloe Dash, Highfield Hondo, Maltese Force, 66 Big Cats, Cabanas, Dallam Star, Jethart Jackie, London Louis, 100 Coolavanny Dart, Emerson Jack, Lethal Charlie, Prodigious, Slick Spartan, Slick Spirit, 200 Droopys Luther, Fargo Star, Ghetto Blaster.
