Howe's Training Revival To Be Short-Lived

BEN Howe will line-up his first runner for more than two years when debutant Dixie Lad steps out in Saturday night's heats of the Robert Smith Memorial Maiden (515m) at The Gardens.

But if the son of Aston Rupee runs up to expectations and qualifies for the final, there's every chance the 23-month-old will be racing for a new set of connections in the $20,000-to-the-winner decider.

"I really don't train these days, you could count on one hand how many dogs I've trained in the past decade," Howe, who breeds and rears from his Cooks Gap property in the central west of NSW, said.

FIELDS AND FORM THE GARDENS SATURDAY NIGHT

"My model is to breed a litter or two a year and sell them and that was actually the plan with this dog until this race fell into my lap.

"I had him ready to go about six weeks ago but he took the shell of a nail off which set me back when he was ready to go.

"Then a few weeks ago I was looking through the calendar and saw this race was on so thought I'd take him up for a trial and see how he went.

"In all his trials and field trials he's shown a lot of speed. He's a really nice pup."

Dixie Lad has drawn box eight in heat four of the Robert Smith with Howe expecting a forward performance.

"He's had two trials – box to box he went 5.01, 17.42 and then post to post on Tuesday he went 24.37 with a 12.20 split which they tell me is motoring.

"The dog has a lot of speed and 500m won't be a problem but Friday is his first run at it so he'll improve off it.

"When you are taking on trainers like Minnie (Finn) and Frank (Hurst) you know it won't be easy but I'm really confident this dog will furnish into a good dog in the future.

"A few weeks ago I had Andy (Lord) on the phone asking me about him and whether he's for sale. I said to him trainers must be detectives when they're not training their dogs!"

If Dixie Lad runs true to trial form on Saturday, Howe expects the phone to be running hot on Sunday.

"But if he misses the start he'll be up against it and the phone probably won't ring at all," he added.

"I'm going there confident in his ability and in his trials he's never crashed to the rail.

"Whatever the result Saturday he won't be with me for too long. If he wins he'll almost definitely be racing for someone else in the final.

"And that's fine by me. Someone is going to have a lot of fun with him."