Smith's Power In Numbers For Brother Fox

JACK Smith goes into Friday night's Ladbrokes Brother Fox Dubbo Cup Final (516m) with three hopes and admits he will need luck to land the coveted prize.

Smith will be represented by Irinka Riley, shock heat winner Midnight Flash and kennel star Jungle Deuce.

“Irinka Riley has drawn a lot better for the final and hopefully he will be punching up along the fence to put himself into the race,” Smith said.

“Jungle Deuce is not well boxed but that's what they said about his chances in the New Sensation and he won that.

“His run in the heat was enormous considering he got knocked over early.

“And what can I say about Midnight Flash?”

Midnight Flash was a $40 heat winner and totally surprised the Smith kennel with the gritty victory.

“I was watching Jungle Deuce but saw my wife cheering beside me,” he said.

“When I looked to the front there was Midnight Flash.”

Smith said Midnight Flash had not won a race in eight starts at Dubbo.

“We had been getting her ready for a staying campaign but here she was last week showing so much speed,” he said.

“She has taken a while to come back to her best form after she had a season.”

Smith believes Irinka Riley, Casual Glance and Zipping Kyrgios hold the key to the Brother Fox decider which carries $40,000-to-the-winner.

Fastest heat winner Zipping Kyrgios appears to have drawn poorly in the eight but Smith does not adhere to that.

“The eight can be a good box at Dubbo,” he said.

“And in good races with such quality finalists, box stats generally go out the window.

“If Zipping Kyrgios gets any sort of luck early, he's the one to beat.”

Smith fondly remembers legend greyhound Brother Fox, trained by then Dubbo based Steve Kavanagh.

“Yes, we saw him race, bought some pups by him from Steve, and mated a bitch or two to him over the years,” he said.

“He was something else.”

Smith also has two top chances in the Peg & Bill Miller Cup Final, litter sisters Irinka Molly and Miss Ezmae.

“Miss Ezmae is a very good bitch and will be hard to beat with luck,” he said.

While Jack Smith will be busy on track with multiple feature race finalists, he will also have his grand race dog and now sought-after stud dog, Feral Franky, on parade during the night.

Miller Cup final (516m): 1 Total Bogle, 2 Springview Magic, 3 Irinka Molly, 4 Winlock Abby, 5 Miss Ezmae, 6 Zipping Ontario, 7 Ned Keeping, 8 We Fix Pipes. Reserves: 9 Pure Vision, 10 You Know Tree.

Brother Fox Dubbo Cup final (516m): 1 Irinka Riley, 2 Nangar Gold, 3 Casual Glance, 4 Blazing Lisa, 5 Midnight Flash, 6 Jungle Deuce, 7 Bonnie Keeping, 8 Zipping Kyrgios. Reserves: 9 Brea Casey, 10 Western Hero.