Big Daddy Wins The Southern Stars

Victorian chaser Big Daddy made the most of his good fortune in gaining a start when proving too sharp for his rivals in the Ladbrokes Southern Stars Final (440m) at Goulburn on Friday.

The Greyhound Recorder revealed on Tuesday that Big Daddy was assured of a place in the final after trainer Anthony Azzopardi was forced to scratch his kennelmate, the $3 favourite Salad Dodger, from the $50,000-to-the-winner final.

Salad Dodger succumbed to "a bit of a tear in the chest and did the ligament in his shoulder" when winning his heat for the rich country race series at Temora on July 18.

Step up Big Daddy.

The son of super stud dog Fernando Bale made good use of box two, spearing under fellow Victorian Dundee Smokey to lead the field off the back and from there it was a case of ‘by how far' before the judge called a halt to proceedings.

At the post Big Daddy ($3.30) defeated the Andy Lord-trained Screaming Jet ($4.60) by 2-3/4 lengths with another two lengths back to Jack Smith's Royal Nangar ($26) in third.

The $2.80 favourite Zipping Remus was challenging for the lead early but was checked out of the race as the field entered the turn off the back straight.

Big Daddy, which launched his career in NZ with a flurry, clocked best of the day figures of 24.52 seconds in winning.

We're wild about daddy cool!

Big Daddy takes the @ladbrokescomau Southern Stars ✨ Final to Victoria, with a scorching 24.52 win from Screaming Jet and Royal Nangar.

Full Results: https://t.co/GBzTXQvyz9#thedogs #southernstars @GRV_News @WatchDogRacing @goulburngrc pic.twitter.com/fn2i4INkk7

— The Dogs (@Thedogs_com_au) July 28, 2023

"He got the job done and I'm quite happy with that," Azzopardi told The Dogs after the race.

"It's a great feeling to come back home. This always will be home and to pull off a good race again, it's very satisfying."

Azzopardi described Big Daddy "as a very freakish, fast dog" and the pair are likely to return to NSW in the coming months for the Group 2 Black Top at The Gardens on September 15 and September 22 before chasing the Million Dollar Chase in October.

Meanwhile, heats for next week's $25,000-to-the-winner Zoom Top Maiden (440m) were also held on Friday and the time standard was set by Bandit Bluey from the Jodie Lord team, running 24.87.

"Not much of her, but she's too good!"

All heats of the @Ladbrokescomau Zoom Top Maiden have been run – with Jodie Lord's Bandit Bluey clocking the quickest time of 24.87 in the opening heat!#thedogs #greyhoundracing @GoulburnGRC pic.twitter.com/YLjFsnGJYb

— The Dogs (@Thedogs_com_au) July 28, 2023

The final promises to be a competitive affair with just 0.07 seconds separating the four fastest heat winners.

The other heat winners were – Irinka Daniel (24.91), Black Misery (24.93), Armatree Storm (24.94) and Mario Wave (25.12).

Here's the box draw for the Ladbrokes Zoom Top Maiden Final at Goulburn next Friday.

Who's your tip?#thedogs #greyhoundracing @ladbrokescomau @tabcomau @sportsbetcomau @TopSport_com_au @NedsAus @BlueBetAu @PalmerbetAU @goulburngrc pic.twitter.com/qKaykXGNDZ

— The Dogs (@Thedogs_com_au) July 28, 2023