Pindari Express heading to Wenty
The wait is over. Pindari Express will make his long awaited debut at Wentworth Park on Wednesday night.
The Bulli Gold Cup winner will exit box five – another first for the Tracey Scruse-trained dog – in race four on Wednesday, the GEE Noms Close Mon Apr 1 Stakes, at 8.08pm.
Pindari Express, last started at Maitland in the Gold Cup heats back on March 14, when a luckless second behind Call Me Ugo.
Pindari Express, the track record holder at both Maitland and Bulli, will now test his speed around the tighter Wentworth Park circuit, but having already trialled the dog at the Glebe venue, Tracey has no doubts he will handle the track.
Wednesday’s run will be the first step for Pindari Express on the road to the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg Heats at Wentworth Park on April 6.
Watch Pindari Express’s latest run at Maitland here.
Neds Friday Night Lightning
Neds Friday Night Lightning was back at Wentworth Park last Friday, and the success of the opening night was amplified, with a predominantly young crowd on hand to witness the action on and off the track.
While the large crowd embraced the off track action between races, on the track one of the real, feel good stories was produced, with Soul Breaking taking out a heat of the Masters’ event.
Soul Breaking, aged six years, and three months, is trained at Cudal in the NSW Central West by Amanda Ginn, who was overcome with emotion after the win.
Amanda admitted she had tried to retire Soul Breaking when she was four and again when she was five, but the greyhound just doesn’t want to stop racing, and would “sulk and carry on when the other dogs were going to the races”, so she decided to keep racing Soul Breaking.
On Friday night Soul Breaking was having her 75th start in a career which began back in July 2014. She now just races in Masters’ events, but Amanda said the FNL series had given them the chance to come to Wenty to race for the first time.
The win is also a big tick for Masters’ racing, an initiative brought in to help extend the racing careers of older greyhounds.
For the second week in succession the spoils were shared, with again, 10 different trainers winning each of the races, many - like Amanda - having headed to town from the bush.
Trainer Patrick Mulrine had hoped Friskey would give the 280m track record a nudge, but after rain hit the track leading into the race, and a clean, but not lightning jump, Friskey stopped the clock at 16.09s.
The Neds Friday Night Lightning Series will continue next week on March 29, and the following two Fridays.
Head here to see the full trainers' leader board.
Gold Cup heats
We are starting to get closer to the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg Carnival and on grand final night, April 20, the stayers will chase Group 1 glory in the Association Cup.
But before then, many of the greyhounds headed down that track will tackle next Saturday night’s $25,000 to the winner Group 3 Gold Cup Final.
Heats were conducted last Saturday, and the story was that not only did trainer John Finn provide the winners of both heats, but he has qualified half the field for the final … and even more amazing was that the quartet are littermates.
Surprisingly Wenty’s darling Poco Dorado had not won in five starts, but returning to her favourite track she bounced back for her 12th win from 13 Wentworth Park staying starts, and the 30th of her career in leading all the way to win her heat in 42.15s.
But it was her sister from the Fernando Bale-Chica Destacada litter, Veloce Nero who posted the fastest time, winning her heat in 41.99s.
The pair are joined by their siblings, Blue Moon Rising and Two Times Twice in the final.
The box draw for the Gold Cup Final is: 1 Boom Down 2 Poco Dorado 3 Blue Moon Rising 4 Double Gee 5 Veloce Nero 6 Kihael Road 7 Little Digger 8 Two Times Twice with reserves Rockstar Kerr and Ebby Ripper.
Watch Poco Dorado’s Gold Cup heat win here.
So often the bridesmaid, Black Forge finally had his night in the spotlight, winning Thursday night’s $40,000 to the winner Husqvarna Maitland Gold Cup Final.
The Darren Sultana-trained dog finished second to Vanderworp in the 2018 Bendigo Cup, fourth to Aston Kimetto in the 2018 Warragul St Leger, third to Pindari Express in this year’s Cyril Rowe Bulli Gold Cup and then second to Catch Me Curly in the Richmond Derby earlier this month.
And let’s not forget Black Forge also won his heat and qualified for the final of the Group 2 Black Top at The Gardens back in August last year, but had to be scratched from the final after being injured climbing under a fence, paving the way for the first reserve to get a run. That reserve was Caitlyn Keeping who then led throughout to win the final.
The win was the 18th of Black Forge’s 36-start career, which also includes 12 placings, and the $40,000 cheque took his earnings to over $131,000.
Sultana said he will now aim Black Forge at next month’s $250,000 Group 1 Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg.
GAP Western Sydney Adoption Day
The brand new Greyhounds As Pets facility at Western Sydney celebrated their opening with a hugely successful Adoption Day on Sunday.
On a very warm, sunny day, the GAP Western Sydney facility, at Reynolds Road, Londonderry, was awash with visitors throughout the morning and into the afternoon, and by the end of the four hour adoption period, a total of 12 greyhounds had found new homes.
For more information on greyhound adoption head to the www.gapnsw.com.au
