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Lucy Lobster Might not be the fastest winner in the 64-year history of the Group 1 Ladbrokes Vic Peters Classic but it would be hard to surpass her amazing consistency throughout the 2014 series.
Despite running in the middle of the track from box rise, the chaser (pictured) led throughout to record initial splits of 5.36 and 13.82 in Saturday night’s Wentworth Park final.
And those brilliant sectionals were almost a replica of the early times she had posted in both her heat and semi-final wins.
Lucy Lobster clocked 5.35 and 13.79 in her heat and 5.36 and 13.77 in her semi-final but got to the line strongly to edge out Jewel Action and Anything Less in the final.
Check out a replay of the run here.
Her win was a training triumph for Charlie Lamb who had set the greyhound for the race and was on record a month ago saying she would get stronger as the series progressed.
While Charlie owned 2008 Paws Of Thunder winner One Tree Hill, that bitch was trained for him by Robbie Britton so Lucy Lobster gave the popular Swan Bay mentor his first Group 1 training success.
“For consistency, she has been a little bolter for her five young owners,’’ Charlie said yesterday.
Lucy Lobster’s winning time of 29.85 was the third quickest in the history of the race, bettered only by Spring Gun’s 29.75 in 2011 and Belfast Johnny’s race record figures of 29.63 last year.
Unlucky runner in the final was Anything Less, who found Frattini blocking his path on the rails at the first turn but rattled home to finish a close third.
Xtreme Knocka, who finished fourth, bungled the start and trainer Jason Fletcher was delighted with his overall display.
“He got turned side-on at the first turn,’’ Fletcher said.
The trainer is faced with a pleasant dilemma following the weekend Wentworth Park wins of his brilliant litter brothers Fantastic Sid and Fantastic Spiral.
Fantastic Sid won on Friday night in 29.71 while his sibling recorded 29.77 on Saturday night, with both leading throughout.
“I’m tossing up between taking them to Melbourne for the group one Silver Chief Classic at The Meadows next month or to Gosford for the Group 2 Woy Woy Poultry Cup later in the month,’’ Fletcher said.
“Gosford is a lot closer but the Melbourne race is worth $60,000 more to the winner so I’ll just have to weigh up my options.
“I expected Fantastic Sid to go as well as he did but I was a bit concerned about Fantastic Spiral because she almost caught the lure at her first Wenty start and then fell at her only subsequent outing there.’’
In other action at Wentworth Park, Knocka’s Return scored his 25th win in 54 races on Friday night but trainer Mark Wilcox rates it the best of his wonderful chaser’s career.
Although Knocka’s Return has run 29.71 at Wentworth Park and he only clocked 30.03 on Friday, Wilcox was in awe of his charge’s performance.
“After missing the jump and being checked immediately he was back in sixth spot on the back straight,’’ Wilcox said.
“When he got a slide into fourth place approaching the home turn I thought he Might still have a chance but when I saw how far the leaders were in front of him I gave him no hope.
“To come from fourth on the home bend and win by a length under those circumstances makes it his best performance yet.’’
See you next week!
