Marty and Fiona Hallinan had a night to remember at Wentworth Park on Saturday when three of their greyhounds won the Group 3 Schweppes Summer Cup final and two heats of the John Stollery Christmas Gift.
The western districts owner-breeders took out the Summer Cup with the Bethany Dapiran-trained ZIPPING Rory and gift heats with ZIPPING Willow and Zipping Angel from the Jason Mackay kennels.
ZIPPING Rory toppled Sweet It Is in a heat of the Bohemia Crystal Sydney Cup on October 4 and inflicted another defeat on Australia’s top stayer on Saturday night.
While ZIPPING Rory was in the lead from box rise, Sweet It Is was never in the hunt and finished out of the placings, with the winner covering the 720m in 42.08.
Those figures prove the win was no fluke as the time is the second fastest ever recorded in a Summer Cup final.
Bethany’s parents Peter and Mandy were holidaying in Mildura at the weekend and watched their daughter’s greyhound win on television.
"This will make the drive home seem a bit quicker," Bethany quipped after ZIPPING Rory’s win.
Darren McDonald, trainer of Sweet It Is, commented: “When the lids lifted the dog in box one moved up the track and flattened my bitch, who had box two, but we’ve got no excuses."
In the Christmas Gift heats, ZIPPING Willow scored her 13th Wentworth Park win in 14 starts this year when she gave another sizzling front-running exhibition to win her heat in 29.78.
But Doreen Drynan’s National Sprint Championship winner Chica Destacada went 0.01 faster in the following heat, setting the stage for a dynamic duel between the pair in Saturday night’s final.
And the box draw weighs heavily in favour of Chica Destacada, who drew one, with ZIPPING Willow out in box six.
When Drynan had four boxes to pick from, she used the tried and tested "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" method and came up trumps.
"Her best runs have been from boxes three and six but she does seem well positioned in a race like this," Drynan said later.
ZIPPING Willow’s 5.36 first split was considerably quicker than Chica Destacada’s opening salvo of 5.42 but Mackay’s bitch will need to reproduce that sort of time in the final.
While ZIPPING Willow has won four of her seven starts from box six, her big worry on Saturday will be the presence in box eight of JODIE Lord’s front-running railer Cawbourne Kayono in box eight.
In other news from Saturday night, Bad Boy Sniper is likely to head to Melbourne for the heats of the Group 1 Silver Chief Classic at The Meadows on December 20 following his win at Wentworth Park.
A new addition to Jason Magri’s kennels, Bad Boy Sniper has won three in a row at Wentworth Park for his new trainer, in 30.06, 29.81 and 30.01 on Saturday’s damp track.
"The Silver Chief is the right age race for Bad Boy Sniper and he is absolutely flying at the moment," Magri said on Saturday.
"It’s a big step up in class but if we don’t go we’ll never know."
Trainer Minnie Finn had mixed results when her brilliant litter brothers Winsome Jacko and Winsome Mission made their first Wentworth Park appearances on Friday night.
Winsome Jacko seemed all at sea from box one and wanted to get to the outside of the pack, but failed to run on as expected and finished sixth.
But Winsome Mission went like a rocket from the rails, leading throughout in s blistering 29.68.
"These two remind me of when John (Finn) and I had sisters Winsome Dollars and Winsome Duchess," Finn said.
"Winsome Duchess was faster but Winsome Dollars won everything and was a better race bitch.
"Winsome Jacko is a bit quicker than his brother but Winsome Mission is a better race dog."
Box draw for the Christmas Gift is: 1. Chica Destacada 2. Peter’s Pick 3. ZIPPING Angel 4. Jumble 5. Rue De Kahn 6. ZIPPING-willow">ZIPPING Willow 7. ZIPPING Tank 8. Cawbourne Kayono Reserves: 9. Cawbourne Cobra 10. To A Tee
See you next week!
