Ritza Rossi and Constable Sniff earned a tilt at next Saturday’s heats of the Group 1 Peter Mosman Classic with tenacious wins at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
After being hampered slightly at the first turn, Ritza Rossi showed great determination to give tearaway leader Upstate Fancy a big start on the back straight before careering away to win by nine lengths.
He stopped the clock at 29.81 - 0.09 faster than his previous best Wentworth Park figures recorded during one of a trio of runner-up performances in his previous three city starts.
After the race Daniel Gatt, deputising for his trainer brother Mark, who was stricken with the flu, said: "Ritza Rossi is not a real good box dog but he came out a bit better tonight.
"He can certainly run and he’ll definitely be among the Peter Mosman entries now."
Constable Sniff is a kennelmate of No Donuts, NSW’s number one chance of repelling the Fernando Bale-led Victorian invasion in the Peter Mosman, and he now looms as a solid "second string" for owner-trainer Brad Canty.
Constable Sniff had not broken 30 seconds in a trial and a first-up race win in two previous looks at Wentworth Park but on Saturday night led throughout in 29.87.
He posted slick initial splits of 5.38 and 13.79 in his determined all-the-way win and showed determination to "cut off" Launceston Cup winner Brad Hill Billy when that greyhound attempted to rail underneath him leaving the back straight.
Brad Hill Billy also lost no admirers from the Peter Mosman viewpoint as his luckless second placing was as good as his debut Wentworth Park win in 29.82 for new trainer, Forbes-based Ray Smith.
Chica Destacada proved she is no spent force with a runaway five lengths win in Saturday night’s Free-For-All.
The "mail" around the track was that the Doreen Drynan-trained bitch had trialled a sensational 22.20 over 400m at Richmond in the lead-up to Saturday’s race and Chica Destacada outgunned Chasing The Line and La Grand Logie in a duel to the first bend.
Chica Destacada emerged from the corner a clear leader and had no trouble holding out Bessy Boo with Chasing The Line, who was hampered getting around La Grand Logie in the early stages, a game third.
The 2014 National Sprint Championship winner swelled her earnings to a massive $311,605 with Saturday night’s win, the 17th in 50 starts for the three-year-old daughter of Cosmic Rumble and Eluthra.
Also boosting her earnings to a lofty figure on Saturday was Zipping Midge who took advantage of a first turn mix-up to win a third and fourth grade event.
The Jason Mackay-trained greyhound, who ran a race record 29.80 winning this year’s National Futurity, clocked identical figures in Saturday’s win which lifted her stakes to $103,555 for owner Marty Hallinan.
Velvet Flame, who had won just once in 11 previous starts from boxes seven and eight, made light of her wide draw to lead throughout on Saturday night in 29.77.
Wearing the black vest, Velvet Flame exploded from the boxes to record scorching first splits of 5.34 and 13.75 on her way to a six lengths win which bettered her previous best overall Wentworth Park figures by 0.01.
With Velvet Flame’s new trainer Dean Swain watching the Tottenham Hotspur/Sydney FC soccer match, wife Danielle deputised with the Joe Borg-owned greyhound at Wentworth Park.
"We were given Velvet Flame to train when her previous trainer Andrew Bayliss, who I went to school with, decided to take a break from the sport," Danielle said later.
Danielle Swain is an accomplished chef who two years ago won a final of the popular reality television series Come Dine With Me Australia, landing a $3000 first prize.
See you next week!
