Dave Jensen will be desperately hoping his greyhound Crusade Marjen can bounce back to his best form in a heat of the Group 2 SITA Geelong Cup (460m) on Friday night.
Jensen would have been disappointed with what transpired in a heat of the Adelaide Cup last week, when his greyhound finished fourth, but was never a serious chance of winning after virtually falling out of the boxes.
Crusade Marjen is the only greyhound Jensen has trained, and he was quietly confident about his chances after an impressive trial at Angle Park in the lead up.
Jensen’s wife Rebecca is the daughter of champion breeder and trainer Gary Ennis.
Having learned plenty about training greyhounds as a kennel hand for Ennis over the years, Jensen admits to being a ‘bundle of nerves’ when Crusade Marjen’s career first got underway.
“I had a few self doubts early on in the piece, but after he won the Geelong Vic Breeders final in his third start all the nerves were behind me. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but I have a lot more confidence in my training ability now,” Jensen said.
Jensen is now hoping Crusade Marjen will give him his first runner in a group final, but with eight heats to be run on Friday night only a win will secure his place in the $65,000 final.
Crusade Marjen is drawn in Box 3 in the first heat, while drawn alongside him in Box 2 is Bendigo Cup winner Warrior King, who is trained by Jensen’s sister-in-law, Brooke Ennis.
A winner of 10 races from 17 starts, Crusade Marjen is a son of Enry Walt, a greyhound bred and trained by Gary Ennis who won the 2010 Group 1 Silver Chief and was a finalist in the 2011 Melbourne Cup.
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