Can Rory Upset The Unbeaten Amron Boy?

EXCITING pup Fearless Rory will face his stiffest test on Thursday night when he meets rising star Amron Boy at Sandown Park.

Trained by Ashlee Terry, Fearless Rory won his first four starts before finding trouble in a narrow loss in a heat of the Shepparton Classic. Still a week shy of his second birthday, Terry is excited by the potential of the son of Orson Allen and 2016 Laurels runner up Fearless Swan.

"He goes very good," said Terry.

FIELDS AND FORM SANDOWN PARK THURSDAY NIGHT

"He broke in with good wraps, but he took a little bit to mature. At first we saw glimpses of ability but we didn't know how good he was going to be. Then he had bit of spell and since he came back, he hasn't really put a foot wrong.

"Even though he got beaten the other day I was very happy with his run. He chases really well, he does lack a little bit early but he has a very good turn of foot."

Fearless Rory won a heat of the Warragul VicBred Maiden heats on his debut in January before beating a quality field in the final. That performance prompted Terry to purchase a ticket to the upcoming Launching Pad and his preparations have been geared towards that series since.

FAIR WIN FROM ‘RORY'

FEARLESS RORY (1) remains unbeaten from three starts after winning by over 10 lengths in 25.362 seconds at Warrnambool (450m) for trainer Ashlee Terry.

Result ? https://t.co/LQlLJ3JgAV#GreyhoundRacing @tabcomau pic.twitter.com/vHfgRQzsz9

— WatchDog Racing (@WatchDogRacing) February 4, 2022

Thursday night will be Fearless Rory's first Sandown Park start however Terry confirmed that he has had several trials at the View Road circuit. But just how fast he can go, Terry couldn't say.

"We trialled him Saturday and the clock didn't work," she said.

"He has trialled there in the past – his post to post recently was very good but his box to box was some time ago. I thought Saturday would give us a better guide but the clock didn't work.

"He's never had a full ‘500' before so that will be bit of a challenge, but he's pretty strong. You don't know until they run it but I'd be surprised if he doesn't."

The biggest obstacle to Fearless Rory winning on his Sandown debut is the dog drawn in box three – Amron Boy. The Brooke Ennis trained speedster has swept all before him in his three starts to date, winning by a combined 28 lengths and registering a brilliant 29.07 victory at his second start.

While Terry believes her charge is not as fast as Amron Boy, she believes the experience he'll gain will be beneficial to his career.

 "Amron Boy is going to be very hard to beat," she said.

 "But the way I figure it is that that's the quality of dogs he's going to come up against in the Launching Pad anyway, so it's going to be a good test for him.

 "We don't have a lot of expectations to beat a dog of that ability because realistically speaking we're not going to be as quick as him, but if we can hold up on the inside and run a good race I'll be more than happy with that."

 Terry also provided an update on her group 3 Provincial Plate winner Hennessey which was scratched ahead of the recent Horsham Cup series.

 "We galloped him at home and he just didn't seem right to us.

 "He had a little bit of a hip concern so we've been working on that, but we trialled last week and trialled again on Tuesday so he should be right for Shepparton on Monday."