The Group 2 Ballarat Cup has been run and won for 2015 and we are still buzzing from the crowd that saw 500+ people attend our first Friday night edition. The night kicked off with a bang for the Dailly camp when Dyna Maddie broke the magical 25 mark in her maiden victory by going 24.92 and we were all left thinking the track record is in jeopardy tonight.
The second race went to the Jason Thompson trained Blackline Willy just held off the fast finishing Snakebite Bale to score in 25.18.
The Tina Woman trained Miss Rossi took out race 3, the mixed grade 4/5 in very handy 21.80.
Race 4 was the final of the hotly contested GRV Vic Breeders series. The Gary Ennis trained Lorimer Lad was sent out the red hot fav and didn’t let favourite backers down with a dominant victory from the pink box in 25.14 and defiantly looks a dog to follow.
Race 5 the crowd favourite 660mtr starting point was a ripper of a race with 3 lead changes and some hustle and bustle, Veteran chaser Unix Bale slide up on the inside and proved to strong in the final stages to win in impressive time 37.76.
The 6th was the Ballarat Cup Consolation and wasn’t it race, the track record holder was the short priced fav for the race and jumped cleanly to take the lead early but the speedy Zoltina’s Legacy took over half way down the back and headed Overlimit rounding the turn were Phaser Bale pushed up underneath Overlimit and had a little bumping duel which let Zoltina’s Legacy get away coming into the straight, Overlimit made his way to the outside and started to run on but it was to late Zoltina’s Legacy held on to win by a neck in 24.95.
Zoltina’s Legacy winning the cup consolation
Race 7 seen a return to form for the highly talented Moreira. The Thompson trained dog bounded straight up outside the leader and once that happened it was Game, Set, Match, the son of Kinloch Brae flew round the 545 distance to record a 6L victory in 30.55 #airborne
Then we came to the Cup, The Group 2 $75,000 Ballarat Cup. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation to see the mighty Fernando Bale do his thing but it wasn’t to be, the silence was deafening when the champ crossed the line in 5th place, he had bombed the start and when he was pushing through to make his run the field hand come down on him and checked him out of the race. All that aside how about the run of the winner! Shared Equity the multiple group placed daughter of Brett lee X West on Bluebird (Sister to the great Miata) has been a model of consistency with 44 starts for 22 wins and 5 placings and as a faultless beginner pinged straight to the front and was never headed, reeling off sectionals of 6.53 – 11.23 and running 24.82 she was never going to be beaten. Unlawful Entry, well what a second, Completely missed the start and was a clear last out but once he got going he made up a stack of ground running up the middle of the track rounding up most of the field and was 3rd outside the 2nd round the home turn when running still running on to finish second, a very brave effort and defiantly a dog to follow for the future since he only has only just turned 2 y.o.
2015 Energis Ballarat Cup
The 9th was a 390mtr special event and it turned out to very special with Spring Missile winning in fine fashion in 21.70 just .07 of second off the track record set by the speedy Arizona Dozer way back in 2013. To add the race first 3 across the line all broke the magical 22 second marker.
Race 10 had all of the hopes of the punters club trying to get something back for the for the night, the pressure was on James Vandermaat, and he didn’t let us down. The Darren Fisher trained Senor Laurie was sent out the short priced fav and didn’t let anyone down with an all the way win in 25.32.
Race 11 saw the ultra impress and very progressive dog in American Warrior win in a big way. Jumping only fairly he sat about mid field but was then checked back to 6th heading into the turn, he then pulled to the outside and unleashed a huge turn of foot, to power away and win by an ever widening 7L in 25.13
The lucky last on cup night went the Dailly Camp, they actually trifected the race with the 3 dogs they had entered. Nila Bale bounded straight to the front from box and and put the field away in 21.96.
Also on the night we presented our trophy for Greyhound of the year. The Darren Murray trained Blast Away was a big victor with 25 starts at the track for 6 wins 3 seconds and 4 thirds and a best time of 22.15.
Darren said “He’s just a nice dog that loves Ballarat, goes around every week, loves the kids and is one of the family”
Congratulations Darren, Lyle and of course owner Ken Robins.
An update on other local racing around our great state.
Team Hansen took the honours this week with 3 winners.
-Just In Hodges won his maiden first go at Ballarat in 25.50
-Call Me Lilly at Geelong in 22.78
-Call me Hank at Bendigo at 24.21
Brennan’s with a double at Bendigo.
-Weeping Lass at Bendigo in 24.06
-Uptown Funk also at Bendigo in 23.89
other winners are, the old boy Filius Flitwick for David Todd, Parsnip for Joe Gigliotti, Cutting Edge added another win to his C.V, Inventor for Gary Peach, Infinite Senor for Julie Ward, You can jive for Jo Borg, Calahan Rocks for Rohan Gladman, Furious Jack for Chris Stanton who also ran second in that race with Golden Blaze, Influential Miss for Ben Slade, Shifty Jack for Alf King and Andelven for Tony Sacco.
16 individual winners for our locals.
