Afire Sets Harrison-Dawson Heats Alight
Afire continued on his winning way when setting the time standard in Thursday night's heats of the Group 1 Harrison-Dawson at Sandown Park.
VICTORIAN ‘Speed Star' Afire continued his spectacular – and miraculous – return from injury when setting a scorching pace in the heats of the Group 1 Harrison-Dawson (515m) at Sandown Park on Thursday night.
Trained by Jason Sharp, Afire claimed his fifth straight win – all coming in scintillating time – since resuming after hock surgery.
His all-the-way 29.19 second victory comfortably secured best of night honours at a meeting which also featured heats of the Group 1 Sapphire Crown for female sprinters.
A February '21 son of Bernardo and Eau Rouge, Afire stepped into the limelight at the same venue last August, taking out the Speed Star match race series in 29.24.
Afire was sidelined for six months after suffering a cracked hock and has remarkably returned better than ever, setting best of meeting figures in each of his five wins.
After clocking 25.00 and a near-record 24.79 over 450m at Shepparton, Afire won heat and final of a Grade 5 series at The Meadows in 29.69 and 29.61 before tackling the Harrison-Dawson.
"I can't believe it!" delighted owner Ed Burrett said.
"I can't remember a dog coming back this well from a hock injury – ever!
"He cracked his hock in the Cranbourne Cup heats (October 19) and had a screw put in.
"We tried to bring him back with the screw in but he pulled up lame a couple of times, so the screw came out and then we had to wait for the bone to heal over.
"He came back trialling better than ever, which was quite weird because before the injury he never used to trial well at all.
"It's crazy. I would've been happy if he came back and won a city race.
"We think he was sitting in a kennel for six months and couldn't wait to get back racing again."
Afire was the first leg of a heat-to-heat double for Jason Sharp, currently holidaying in Paris, with $1.30 favourite Morton arriving in the final bounds to claim a neck verdict in 29.45.
The Sharps added a third string to their bow when Stormy Day, a litter brother to Morton, ran second to Jamie and Brooke Ennis' 29.32 winner Launch Code in the final run-off.
The remaining heat winner was Here Comes Artie, trained by Des Douch, in 29.52.
A memorable night got even better for the Sharp family when Afire and Morton drew boxes one and two respectively for next Thursday's $100,000 to-the-winner final.
Afire is $2 favourite, with Morton, which gave the Sharps their first Group 1 triumph in the Gold Bullion in Brisbane in February, the $2.90 second elect.
"He's got a nice draw," Burrett said. "Morton will be happy to stay out there.
"I think the red at Sandown is a lot more of an advantage than it is at The Meadows.
"He ran 5.05 last night and had to come across from box six, so you can probably shave a bit off that from the red.
"We ran second in the Sapphire Crown with Let's Win Coin two years ago.
“Probably the most satisfying win I've ever had was when Let's Win Coin first came to Victoria from South Australia and won a heat of the Launching Pad by seven lengths at 100/1!"
The Lara-based Sharps will also have a finalist in the Sapphire Crown in heat runner-up Desired Path, trained by Jason's son Dylan.
The pacesetter in the Sapphire Crown was Magic Muffin, trained by Paul Bartolo, who won the race in 2006 with champion Betty's Angel.
Magic Muffin ran 29.46 and will be striving to go one better than last year's second-placed finish to Baby Jaycee.
Less than one length separated the other Sapphire heat winners.
Aunt Virginia, trained by John Paraskevas, ran 29.62, Jeff Britton's $62 outsider Mackinaw Peach posted 29.63, and Cruising Debbie, prepared by Brendan Pursell, went 29.68.
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