Maidment Made To Order For Often Imitated

OFTEN Imitated ends an exasperating run of poor box draws when she steps out from box one in Friday night's Listed Maidment Memorial (595m) at Sandown Park.

Trained by Kel and Jackie Greenough, the immaculately bred daughter of Kc And All and Sweet It Is has amazingly drawn box four or wider at her past 17 appearances.

But that all ends this Friday night when she takes her place from the coveted rails alley in the $15,000 to-the-winner event.

"I've never seen anything like it; it's been about five months since she's drawn near the fence – and she's desperate for it," said Kel Greenough in the lead up to Friday night's middle distance feature.

Winner of the Group 2 McKenna Memorial (595m) at Sandown last July, Often Imitated goes into Friday night's Maidment Memorial on the strength of a dazzling 29.33 515-metre victory at Sandown last Thursday, the 17th win of her 38 start career.

"If she takes advantage of the red like I hope then she'll be hard to beat but she can sometimes be a little vulnerable late in 600s," Greenough said.

"It's funny; in 500s she comes from back in the field mostly and runs a huge last split but in the 600s, when she does lead, she'll spend everything she's got early and sometimes struggle late.

“I put it down to her being a real racer and putting everything into her races, the good thing going into Friday is that she's had some 600s lately so she's nice and fit."

Boasting a 33.92 personal best time for the Sandown 595 metres, TAB has installed Often Imitated the $2.90 favourite for Friday night's $15,000 to-the-winner affair, tackling a star-studded field of middle distance chasers.

"Rockstar Prince worries me the most," Greenough pointed out.

"He's run 33.80 odd at Sandown and it looks like he'll get a nice run through from the two. There's some very good dogs in the race with enormous ability but with some of the ones drawn wider it's hard to see them getting into the race early – especially with a few wide runners."

The TAB has Rockstar Prince – a recent 33.82 winner at the track – the $4.40 second favourite ahead of the Glenn Rounds-trained Waging War (box 4) at $6.00 and Sandown Cup winner Rajasthan (box 6) at $6.50.

In fact, seven of the eight runners are quoted under double figure odds.

Buoyed by the ideal box draw, Greenough is hopeful that victory in Friday night's Maidment will be the stepping stone for Often Imitated to tackle the fast approaching Group 1 Rookie Rebel (600m) at The Meadows on February 15.

"I really do believe with a few things in her corner she has a group 1 in her," Greenough stated, more than qualified to speak on what it takes to win at group 1 level.

"She's got a group 2 already but to win a group 1 would be even better for her breeding career later on. 

"Her sister Never Duplicated won nine races and $50k and she's already got two litters (Bombastic Shiraz & Fernando Bale) on the ground.

“I'd say next time Often Imitated comes on season (owners) Tyrone and Greg will breed with her.

"Hopefully by then we have a group 1 next to her name but the best chance of that will be in a 600; in the sprints she just doesn't have the early pace to keep up with those speed dogs."