There was a mere 0.01 of a second between the three fastest winners in Saturday night’s 10 Golden Easter Egg heats at Wentworth Park, but all the good judges rated Fernando Bale the star of the show.
Andrea Dailly’s National Derby winner shared time honours of 29.45 with fellow Victorian Hostile while Over Limit, now with WA’s top trainer Paul Stuart, clocked 29.46.
But it was Fernando Bale’s near record sectional times of 5.30, 13.55 and 17.68 which had the fans agog.
Before the race My Bro Fabio’s co-trainer Jamie Ennis told me Fernando Bale (pictured) was, apart from his own greyhound, his "favourite" dog and after Saturday’s seventh heat, run on a wet track, you can see why.
After Fernando Bale’s win George Dailly, whose sister-in-law Andrea trains the dog, said: "He used a bit of the track tonight which was pretty smart of him because it was a bit sloppy on the rails."
Over Limit brought off a successful plunge in his all-the-way win, with splits of 5.38, 13.67 and 17.73, after firming from $6 to $2.80.
Dyna Villa, trained by Jenny Hunt, took his record from box eight to six starts for six wins when he won the opening heat in 29.73, while kennelmate Dawkins Bale ran down Rue De Kahn in 29.84.
After Dawkins Bale’s win handler Trevor Smith said he believed the dog could be the big improver in next week’s semi-finals.
"He barked for the first 200km after we left Victoria and if he travels better next week he might find three or four lengths," Smith said.
Fastest locally-trained heat winner was Anthony Azzopardi’s My Boy Snoop who won in 29.78.
"I had been giving My Boy Snoop box practice all week and told my wife Kylie this morning that if he jumped he would win," Azzopardi said later.
Former NSW-based breeders Irena and Ray Steele landed one of the night’s most impressive winners when Ray-spirit">RonRay Spirit, trained in Victoria by their mate Terry Reid, led throughout in 29.65.
RonRay Spirit posted splits of 5.38, 13.64 and 17.79 and went to the line full of running to score his 15th win in only 25 starts.
"Ray and Irena gave me the dog to train just before Christmas so he has turned out to be a pretty good present," Reid quipped after the race.
Terry Reid, the son of Victorian Hall Of Fame trainer Peter Reid, works full time and has only four greyhounds in work.
Heats of the Group 1 AAA Radiator Specialists Association Cup will be run next Saturday and SA-owned, Victorian-trained Luna Jinx threw down the gauntlet to the better known stars with a brilliant trial over 720m at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
Luna Jinx, trained by veteran Len Ketelaar, sped over the 720m in 41.95, only 0.42 wide of Xylia Allen’s track record figures.
See you next week!
