Cosmic Bonus Shooting For Cup Success

By Jeff Collerson

Cosmic Bonus, whose strike rate surged to 21 wins from 44 starts at Wentworth Park last Saturday night, will target the Group 2 Woy Woy Poultry Gold Cup heats at Gosford on Boxing Night.

Trained at Grafton by his breeder Evelyn Harris, Cosmic Bonus staged a remarkable performance to win a 520m third grade at Wentworth Park after going amiss when leading clearly leaving the back straight.

The dog lost so much ground he surrendered the lead, but on straightening up rocketed home to win by a half-length from Modus Operandi in a nippy 30.22.

"How fast was he going to run if he had retained the lead,'' was the general comment among keen race watchers.

Harris explained: "Cosmic Bonus dislocated his shoulder when fourth in a Lismore Cup heat in October and while he won over 400m at Gosford in his comeback race on December 5, Saturday night was his first 520m test.

"My husband Leonard believes the dog may have pinched a nerve when he hit the circle between the end of the back straight and the home turn.
"But once he reached the straight again he charged to the line as if nothing had happened.

"Our good bitch Magic Display finished second to Awesome Project in the 2014 Woy Woy Poultry Gold Cup at Gosford so we would love to win this year's race with Cosmic Bonus.

"We race a lot at Gosford and Cosmic Bonus goes really well on that track.''

Evelyn and Leonard Harris have a huge opinion of their maiden puppy Fernando Bonus, a half-brother to Cosmic Bonus, who was an unlucky second in a heat of the Lismore Maiden Classic last week.

"We think Fernando Bonus is going to be as good as Cosmic Bonus,'' Evelyn said.

"After he finished second at Lismore Tony Brett, the leading Queensland trainer, came up to us and said 'that young dog of yours has an old head on his shoulders, he is going to be something special'.''

xxxx

Explosive Brown, who almost died in August, continued her remarkable comeback with another all-the-way win at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.

Trained by Ron Alcock for Brenden Folitarik, Explosive Brown notched her fourth win at headquarters with a tidy 30.26 performance, including quick early splits of 5.47 and 14 seconds.

After the race her breeder and part-owner Helen Simmons, who trained the greyhound's dam Explosive Ebony, said: "On the way home after racing at Dapto in August, Explosive Brown's behaviour alarmed her trainer.

"Ron and his wife Sue always give Explosive Brown a meat pie as a post-race snack but when she did not want to eat her usual treat they suspected something was radically wrong.

"And when Explosive Brown kept pacing around instead of laying down and going to sleep, they drove directly to their veterinary surgeon.

"Explosive Brown had somehow twisted her stomach and for a while there it was touch and go whether she would survive.

"But she not only pulled through, but is racing as well as ever, a tribute to the care she gets from Ron and his wife Sue.''

xxxx

Zipping Katelyn, who ended Lochinvar Hugo's amazing sequence of wins in Friday night's Newcastle Cup, will head to Wentworth Park for the Group 2 Summer Plate heats over 720m on January 13.

Lochinvar Hugo was chasing his 16th successive win when he tackled 715m for the first time at Ladbokes Gardens, and while he lost no admirers in defeat, full honours were with the winner, Zipping Katelyn.

"She made full use of having box one and is going to develop into a true stayer,'' trainer Jason Mackay said later.

"Zipping Katelyn will go around in the Summer Plate but I'm not predicting she will win that because I don't believe she will be at her peak as a long-distance greyhound until the autumn.

"Greyhounds which are not dyed-in-the-wool stayers can show signs of distress after a long race, but by the following morning Zipping Katelyn is raring to go again.

"But she is not fully matured yet as a stayer.''