The first two editions of this race have produced The Gardens 515m track record holder and Group 2 Black Top victor French Martini, Group 1 Peter Mosman Opal winner Embrace, Thunderbolt champion Vamoose and Million Dollar Chase finalist Has Ability. Who will emerge from the 2024 final?

Here’s what connections had to say ahead of the $20,000 Multicam Robert Smith Memorial Maiden:

Prowess isn’t as talented as Euphoria but she’s coming along nicely. I can’t see her challenging the best in this race but Box 2 gives her a better chance of being competitive. She trialled 29.89 before the heats but she doesn’t seem to get down and out quick and that doesn’t suit The Gardens. She just stands still for a bit when the lids open and doesn’t have great early drive to punch through. She’s always a few lengths behind Euphoria over the first section but she is only having her second start on Saturday so she might have a bit more scope for improvement I guess.

Euphoria is the pick of my two as she’s got a bit more experience than her sister and has always been a bit quicker. She went 29.8 in her first look at Wenty and 29.7 in her first run at Dapto to show us what she can do early on, then a few things went wrong when we got her up over 500. She had a procedure to get her tonsils removed at the start of January and her first run back was in the heats last week. She just possesses a lot of early pace, she’s strong like her half-sister Embrace, and she went 4.94 in a trial at the Gardens and 17.20 to the back which is basically what she did in the heat. Can she back it up though is the question? She only had a box to box leading into the heats and hadn’t run a 500 until December last year, so fitness wise, we’re not sure if she’s got enough in the tank to hold off the two good ones in Mr. Peregrine and Power And Glory.

I think he was a little bit overawed by the occasion last week. He was a little bit anxious when we first got there, he didn’t want to empty, he was pulling too hard, he was dragging me all over the place and he was a bit like a new boy at school. Hopefully he’s learned from the experience but he’s still a young dog working out how to race. You can see he’s got ability and if we get a level chance this week, I think it’ll be interesting. There was a bit more pressure on us last week after the trials but it’s probably all on the Carruthers’ dog now [Mr. Peregrine]. I think Euphoria is drawn to lead and I’m hoping we can get a tail in behind him without Mr. Peregrine anyone near us. I think we can match the favourite but we need to lead him. If he gets in front, we can’t catch him but if we get clear air running through the first bend, look out. He’ll be a different dog to last week.

I like the dog and she’s got a really good temperament. We threw her in the deep end in the Maitland Future Stars series and her second in the final was really good. We were setting her for a maiden race at Wenty Park before Christmas but she came on season so sat out for six weeks. She didn’t have much of a preparation heading into the heats last week and then she ran into a pretty nice one in Euphoria. Sapphire Banner needed to draw under Euphoria to lead the race but she hasn’t so she’ll have her work cut out for her coming across them. She’s going to be a decent bitch over 500 in time.

The heat run blew us away because he went 29.45 in his first trial, then he went 29.57 so we thought maybe he'd go 29.40 or thereabouts. Then I saw 29.14 and I was just stunned behind the boxes. When I saw Craig Chappelow's dog [Euphoria] ran good time in the first heat, we knew it was a good track but not that good. It's probably not going to be repeated in the final either so I just hope he jumps and gets around the first turn well. If Euphoria gets to the front and gets clean air around the bend, she might be hard to run down. Sapphire Banner is always in with a chance with her good first section and Ken Burnett's dog [Power And Glory] missed the jump last week and did a lot of work to get second spot so he could run great with more luck this week as well. It's a very hard final though and it's going to be hard for our guy from Box 7.

All the experts tell me we can’t win and we might as well scratch because we’re no chance. We set the dog for the race three or four weeks ago, he’s got himself into the final and now it’s up to him. He’s still a puppy though really and I’m not sure he realises his own ability. He got to the first turn last week and he sort of climbed all over another dog and didn’t make his mind up whether he wanted to go inside or outside so he’s got a bit to learn. Initially I wasn’t too happy with Box 8 but having Mr. Peregrine in the seven makes me a bit happier and that’s a big plus for us. I’ve heard the favourite could be a group dog and he has a lot of potential but when I was a young fella, potential and 50 cents would get you a cup of coffee.

Note - Lottie Ellie (Box 1) and Blue Kermaro (Box 4) have both been scratched from the final and will be replaced by reserves, Subsonic and Kelly Bolt. The box draw for these runners will be conducted on Saturday morning.

He probably would have gone around favourite in the consolation but we’re happy to be in the big race with the big prizemoney. If I was lucky enough to get Box 1, I think he’ll run better than his odds suggest because the red is always a big help in finals. I think if he got onto Euphoria’s back at some stage he’d be in with a really good shot but we need Power And Glory and Mr. Peregrine to get held up because he won’t outrun them. It’s my first feature final so its very exciting, especially with a dog I’ve bred, reared, broken in and trained since day one. My wife Kaylah loves this dog and they get on better than me and him do. 

It’s great to get a run but you don’t need to be Einstein to work out it’s a really tough field. John and Jane’s dog [Mr. Peregrine] looks like a champion and it’s hard to believe he went a length faster than French Martini did in the heats of this race two years ago. Power And Glory looks very smart as well. I think our girl is going to improve with more racing, she’s been bouncing out of her skin this week and she seemed to really like the race day experience. We don’t know her box yet but I don’t think Box 1 will benefit her because she’s a bit sluggish early. If she gets the red though, lets hope she can use it. She had a 500, trial at Nowra, then she went around over 520m at Wenty and both were pretty pedestrian. The heat was her third 500 so she might still be peaking but we still think she’s going to be better over 700m.

7. Mr. Peregrine

5. Power And Glory

3. Euphoria

8. Moon Raider

2023 Big Boy Wilson

2022 French Martini

The Multicam Robert Smith Memorial Maiden, worth $20,000 to the winner, will be run in Race 7 on Saturday, February 17 at 8:54pm.