Rangoon Hands Wilton A Welcome Christmas Bonus

By Jeff Collerson

Rangoon, the impressive winner of Thursday's Commercial Hotel Christmas Cup final at Maitland, is bound for Wentworth Park.

Following Rangoon's strong finishing win over a high quality field in the 450m Maitland race, Aberdeen-based owner-trainer Gary Wilton has set his sights on headquarters.

"I will take her to The Gardens for a 515m race and then bring her to Wentworth Park,'' Wilton said.

"Although Wenty is 70m further than Maitland was Rangoon will have no trouble running the distance, but she does need to draw an inside box to show her true ability.''

Rangoon, who notched her 12th win in 33 starts when she sped over the 450m Christmas Cup trip in a fast 25.07, was bred by Wilton's son Richard.

"Because he is a shift worker Richard finds it hard to train greyhounds so he sold Rangoon to me,'' Wilton senior said.

"I am a butcher by trade but worked in a Hunter Valley power station for 25 years before retiring five years back.

"I have been involved with greyhounds for 50 years, with my best probably being Stolen Cash, who won 22 of 68 races from 1996 to 1999.

"Other good ones I trained were Tiger Cape, Caplin Cape and Yarradeen, while I bred Cast Iron, who was an outstanding performer when trained by Ken Cheetham.''

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Hank Vanderburg isn't the first trainer to make a comeback to the sport and he won't be the last.

Vanderburg, 72, is a Group race winning trainer who not long ago "retired'' from the sport and travelled around Australia for three months.

"When I got back I decided to get a couple of greyhounds again," he said.  "When my wife Jean asked why I wanted to do that I replied, 'I need a reason to get out of bed every morning.'

"Now I have five in work with Fusion Cronulla, who has had two wins and a second from three starts and who won over 450m at Maitland on Thursday in 25.10, the best of them.

"He is a smart young dog and the way he ran home at Maitland I believe he will run 520m at Wentworth Park.''

Highlights of Vanderburg's career have been training Oriana to win the 1997 Ladies Bracelet and Dapto $100,000 finals along with taking out the 2001 Group 1 National Futurity with Queen Muffin.

Born in Holland, Vanderbug was one of 13 children who arrived in Australia in 1959 as a 14-year-old.

"My parents Anne and Bert kept greyhounds as show dogs in The Netherlands and while they did not race them I guess they were in my blood,'' he says.

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Black Bear Lee's litter brother File The Writ looks to be finally on track for his first Wentworth Park win following his outstanding performance at Richmond on Friday night.

Now in the kennels of Black Bear Lee's trainer Ruth Matic, File The Writ, who early in his career was considered as fast as his famous brother, won over 400m in a fast 22.70.

Despite being only fifth in the early stages, File The Writ swept around his opponents to hit the front with just under 200m to go and won easily.

Various setbacks and poor box manners have resulted in File The Writ, whelped in May, 2013, having had only 18 starts for five wins and four seconds, while Black Bear Lee has amassed three Group race victories among his 21 wins from 49 outings.