Bundles Galore's Nationals Comeback

MORGAN Turner will be chasing the biggest win of his relatively brief training career on Thursday night when Bundles Galore continues his impressive return from injury in the Crocmedia Western Australian National Sprint Championship at Cannington.

Bundles Galore, a July '15 son of Dyna Nalin and two-time Perth Cup finalist Saving Bundles, ran second in the Group 3 SA Derby last September, beaten only three-quarters of a length by then kennelmate Black Bombshell, before a fractured hock stalled his career in January.

Bundles Galore then made his way to Morgan Turner's Nambeelup kennels and after returning to the track in May he didn't immediately hit his straps, winning just one of his first six starts, but he's since enjoyed a purple patch of form, winning five of his last six, highlighted by a strong-finishing 30.03 victory in his National Sprint heat last Saturday.

"He's going really good," said 34-year-old Morgan Turner.

"We're friends with the Robartsons, Dave and Christine, and Bundles Galore is owned by their daughter, Jodee Jennings. I've only been training for about four years and the Robartsons have been really good mentors to me.

"I'm not sure what happened with the previous trainer (Enzo Crudeli) but we got the Robartsons' dogs to train. Bundles Galore is obviously the best one and we've also got a few other younger ones.

"Bundles Galore had a slab fracture in the hock and had a screw put in it. We started walking him after a while and eventually started galloping him again. His first trial back was a hand-slip at Mandurah. I was pretty nervous but he went well and he's kept going ahead in leaps and bounds as he's got fitter and fitter.

"I put him in a country 600 to build up his confidence and he drew West On Hawkeye, which had run second in the Paradise Street Trophy the week before. But he came out well and won and from then on he's just kept winning."

Drawn in box three in the first of two Sprint heats, Bundles Galore was the $3.70 second elect behind $2.70 favourite Cropduster, the WA Oaks winner, with Max Profit, WA's National Sprint representative at Albion Park in 2017, at $4.10.

Max Profit showed his trademark early speed to lead, while Bundles Galore dropped onto the fence after a poor start and railed into second rounding the first turn.

In a powerful display, Bundles Galore railed to the lead entering the home straight and surged clear to defeat Max Profit by 2.75 lengths in 30.03, his 19th win from 44 starts and fastest performance at Cannington since resuming from his injury-enforced spell.

The second heat was won by Chris Halse's Group 2 WA Derby hero West On Augie, a February '16 son of Fernando Bale and Te Amo, in a best of night 29.88, his 19th win from 32 starts.

West On Augie is the $1.80 favourite with Ladbrokes to represent WA at Sandown Park on Friday, August 24, after drawing box five, ahead of Bundles Galore, which is a $3.80 chance from box seven, from where he boasts an imposing five from six career record.

"I don't think any box really fazes Bundles Galore; it's more what's around him that will cause him trouble and I don't think box seven looks too bad," Turner said.

"West On Augie is definitely the main danger. If West On Augie leads I don't think we can run him down, but if West On Augie misses the start or gets held up by Max Profit (box 3) we'll be a chance.

"Bundles Galore has good field sense and I was just hoping he would stay on the fence in his heat. If he's midfield half-way around you know he won't be far away.
He hasn't broken 30 seconds since his hock injury but he always puts in 100 percent and chases so hard.

"The weather's been favourable to him lately with plenty of rain and heavy tracks and there's 100 percent chance of rain forecast for Thursday, which should help!"

Victory in Thursday's $19,950 to-the-winner WA Sprint Final would be by far Turner's greatest accomplishment with the collar and lead.

"It would be awesome," Turner offered.

"I got into greyhounds after my wife, Karis, and I bought a kennel property in Nambeelup to start boarding kennels. I was working with Linda Britton's brother on a mine site and asked him a lot of questions about greyhounds and he told me his sister was the one I needed to talk to.

"I bought a greyhound with two workmates called Double Joint, which is a pet at home now. He won his maiden with Andrew McLaren and then he ended up back at our kennels. The stewards asked me about him and told me I needed to get a license, so I did, and he won our first race.
It just grew from there and it was getting too hard with the boarding kennels as well, so eventually we closed it down.

"We've got 20 greyhounds at the moment and five at the breakers from a litter we bred by Barcia Bale – Nifty Noaki, which is a litter sister to Zelemar Fever, so it's the same line as West On Hawkeye and West On Maisie.
We've also got a three-month-old David Bale – West On Sally litter that we bred with Linda (Britton)."

Bundles Galore's Group 1-winning litter brother Quick Jagger, trained by Chris Halse, is the $1.55 Ladbrokes favourite for Thursday night's WA Distance Championship after running third at $1.20 to Moment To Jive in last Wednesday's one-off heat.