Aston-athon In Derby-Futurity Heats

JASON Mackay took giant strides towards securing a third National Futurity title after landing two heats of the bitches-only classic at Wentworth Park on Friday night.

And the Richmond Vale conditioner's night didn't stop there either, winning two heats of the time-honoured Group 1 National Derby, courtesy of Hard Style Rico and Aston Sapporo.

Winner of the National Futurity previously with Sometime's Speedy and Zipping Midge, Mackay takes a two-pronged attack into next Friday's $75,000 to-the-winner final with superb heat winners Aston Maeve and Zipping Veyron.

The regally bred Aston Maeve, a daughter of Brett Lee and Aston Miley, extended the unbeaten start to her career to four with a hugely impressively 29.87 heat victory.

A race later, Zipping Veyron joined her kennelmate Aston Maeve in the final, the daughter of Black Magic Opal reeling off blistering sectionals to score in 29.86.

"Zipping Veyron got a little injury last week and we have had to do a bit of maintenance on her this week," Mackay explained.

"Tonight's her forte. Nail the start, run good sections, and try and pinch a break and hang on, and she did that tonight.

"Aston Maeve is a novice in this company, she's only had the four starts and she's got an impressive record. But she'd never been through the boxes here, never had a 520m, so she did well. She  looked good; I think she could be a sharp improver next week."

The third Futurity heat was annexed by Aston Silk for leading Victorian trainer Jason Thompson, the well-bred bitch continuing the perfect start to her career with an all-the-way 29.98 victory from box one.

The fourth qualifier was won by Run Baba Run for Jeff Galea in 30.25 while the final heat was won by the Hank Vanderburg-trained Wild Flyer in 29.98, the Londonderry trainer eyeing off a second Futurity trophy having won the race back in 2001 with Queen Muffin.

Finishing runner-up to Wild Flyer was Victorian bitch Aston Perignon, with her qualification through to the final giving prominent owner/breeder Ray Borda three finalists carrying his famous ‘Aston' prefix.

Having enjoying a red-letter night, Borda will also be represented in the National Derby next weekend after Aston Sapporo took out his heat in 29.87.

The son of Black Magic Opal's all-the-way win was Jason Mackay's second Derby heat winner after recent kennel acquisition Hard Style Rico gunned down Simon Told Helen to score by 1 3/4 lengths in 29.84.

"He's a special young dog for sure," Mackay said of Hard Style Rico.

"To give the leader a start like that, and beat him a length and three quarters, you've got to look to make sure it really happened.

"The leader is probably the best young dog around, and he's given him two or three lengths start and beaten him two lengths. That's a proper young dog.

"I've only had him eight days (having got the dog from Victoria) and another week with him won't hurt, that's for sure.”

The opening Derby heat saw My Mate Clarrie score by a big margin in 29.96 for Troy Donaldson while Rampant Jimmy got up late to score over Ebby Infrared in heat three, running 30 seconds neat.

The fifth and final heat was taken out by exciting prospect Here Comes Joe, the son of Barcia Bale continuing the outstanding start to his career to win comfortably in 30.01.

The box draw for next week's Group 1 National Futurity is:  1. Aston Meave 2. Run Baba Run 3. Sneaky Marquee 4. Zipping Veyron 5. Wild Flyer 6. Kooringa Lucy 7. Aston Silk 8. Aston Perignon

The box draw for next week's Group 1 National Derby is:  1. Here Comes Joe 2. Rampant Jimmy 3. Ebby Infrared 4. Simon Told Helen 5. Hard Style Rico 6. My Mate Clarrie 7. Aston Sapporo 8. Poacher