Whole New Level: Mortified Begins MDC Odyssey

SOUTH Coast trainer Chris O'Brien is under no illusions of the task ahead of emerging talent Mortified at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.

The lightly raced daughter of Fernando Bale booked a place in the Million Dollar Chase semi-finals last week when defeating big race performer Ritza Donna in Dapto's MDC Regional Final.

The MDC semi-finals will be held at Wentworth Park on September 16 and the next two weeks are being used by O'Brien to hone Mortified's racing skills ahead of her attempt to book a place in the $1m-to-the-winner decider on September 24.

FIELDS AND FORM WENTWORTH PARK SATURDAY NIGHT

"The next couple of weeks are all about her polishing her racing traits at Wenty before the semi-finals," O'Brien said.

"I just want to see her fine tune her box manners in the next couple of weeks going into the series."

POV: Your greyhound Mortified has just won the @DaptoG @tabcomau #MillionDollarChase Regional Final and is now one win away from a crack at $1 Million!

Congratulations Team Mortified ?

See you at the #MDC Semi-Finals at Wentworth Park Sept 16.#thedogs #MDC #GreyhoundRacing pic.twitter.com/YB6UkVgguc

— The Dogs (@Thedogs_com_au) August 25, 2022

O'Brien also trained Mortified's mum Banjo Tifia and grandmum Tifia, both well performed chasers, but the conditioner declared his latest kennel star the best race dog he's put a lead on.

"This one is on a whole new level compared with her mother and grand dam," he added.

"She's got it all. Got the look, got the racing brain and can reel off the sections.

"Dogs like this are different. She's just one right out of the box.

"I've always had a good handy dog. I've been very lucky but I've never had one like this.

"The first time I took her to Wentworth Park she had a box-to-box and went 5.35, 13.79, 17.95. That shows you what she's capable of."

Mortified faces a stiff task on Saturday night drawn to contest the TXN's Forever Stakes (520m), a race loaded with high class talent.

Mortified has a personal best time at Wentworth Park of 29.95 seconds, a performance she will most likely need to improve on if she's to improve her record to seven wins from nine starts.

"It's not an easy race on Saturday night," O'Brien said.

"Zipping Novak's a very talented dog and there's others.

"Respectability has gone 29.50 odd at Albion Park, Agland Luai and Spring Meteor both have good records at the track.

"She's won off the red and the pink in her three starts at the track so box one isn't a worry."