Dubbo breeder-owner-trainer Charmaine Roberts and her partner Shayne Stiff dominated Friday night's Bathurst Cup card, winning three of the four major races.
They took out the Ladbrokes Bathurst Cup, worth $15,000 to the winner, with Caitlyn Keeping, the 307m Bill Kennerson Memorial with that greyhound's litter sister Madeline Keeping, and the 450m Lord Mayor's Cup with rising four-year-old veteran Bolt Keeping.
Bolt Keeping, who came from fourth early to hit the front approaching the home bend, notched his 24th win in 87 starts, while Madeline Keeping, who took out the Lismore Maiden Classic in December, 2017, rung up win number 16 from 38 appearances.
Caitlyn Keeping, who, like Madeline Keeping, came out running in her race, stopped the clock at a brilliant 29.94sec for the 520m, excellent time considering 43mls of rain fell shortly before racing commenced.
That win lifted Caitlyn Keeping's earnings to just over $93,000 with 19 wins in 40 outings.
"We now plan to take Caitlyn Keeping to Melbourne where the group 1 Australian Cup over 525m at The Meadows is her goal,'' Shayne Stiff said.
"She knows her way around The Meadows and we are hoping she is seeded directly into the semi-finals of the Cup on February 23 because she won the group 2 Black Top at LADBROKES GARDENS.
"If she does not get drawn in the Cup semis she will contest an Australian Cup heat next Saturday night.
"I was very confident about Madeline Keeping winning last Friday night but thought Little Digger, who had box one, might come home too strongly for Caitlyn Keeping.
"But our bitch was off and gone at the first turn where Little Digger was midfield.
"Double Up Dee did well to finish second because he had box eight and you have to be exceptional to win a strong 520m final at Bathurst from that draw.
"Bathurst is a particularly leader-biased track.''
xxxx
THE only feature race at Bathurst on Friday which did not head to Dubbo was the Bathurst GBOTA Maiden Final, taken out by the South Canberra-trained Alliteration.
The Ashley Dwyer-trained youngster led throughout to comfortably land the $6600 winner's cheque, along with a nice punting win at the odds of $10 for his trainer.
Dwyer gave Alliteration a thorough preparation for Friday's race, beginning with promising performances trials over 365m at Nowra on New Year's Eve and then a 472m trial at Bulli.
"He finished third at his first start, at Bulli, then ran third in his Bathurst heat,'' Dwyer said.
"I trialled him before the heats at Bathurst and Solar Sky and Nangar Jay, who were opposed to him in the final, trialled quicker.
"But Alliteration has plenty of early pace so I gave him a good chance in the final and thought he was over the odds at $10.''
xxxx
Mystagogy has been retired, at the ripe old age of five years and four months, after winning 27 of 136 races.
Trainer George Borg's old warrior dropped a back muscle at Richmond last week and won't be given another racing campaign.
While Mystagogy was best known as a short course speedster, the dog's Wentworth Park 520m record is a lot better than most realise.
He won his maiden race over that trip in June, 2015, with his first six WP 520m outings resulting in two wins, two seconds and two thirds.
But Borg, who has recently been successful caretaker trainer of crack Victorian sprinter Miss Splendamiro and group 1 winning Queensland stayer Double Gee, found that Mystagogy was more at home over distances up to 400 metres.
Mystagogy earned just over $44,000 in stakes, not bad going for a short distance specialist.
