Ladbrokes Golden Easter Eggs Heats
History was made at Wentworth Park on Saturday night when, for the first time, all 10 Heat winners of the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg, ran times under the 30s barrier.
Fastest of the Heat winners was Terry Jordan’s young sprinter Fernando Blaster who posted 29.40s, leading throughout.
The enigmatic Pindari Express was the second quickest with a 29.41s performance with last year’s Young Star winner Federal Lilly posting 29.45s.
Other Heat winners were Miss Splendamiro 29.54s, Fast Car Driving 29.69s, Nangar Kash 29.72s, Jamella Jet 29.83s, Black Opium 29.84s, Mystic Riot 29.86s, and Eye Rock 29.98s.
The box draw for the semi-finals will be completely on Tuesday, with four semis scheduled for Saturday evening.
Watch Fernando Blaster’s Easter Egg Heat win here.
Ladbrokes Magic Maiden Semi-Finals
The clash of litter sisters Blanco Caliente and Really Unreal, looms as one of the highlights of the four semi-finals of the Group 3 Ladbrokes Magic Maiden at Wenty on Wednesday.
The pair, out of the highly-publicised Barcia Bale-Chica Destacada litter, both produced outstanding performances in the Heats last Wednesday, and both will have their supporters this week.
Blanco Caliente was the fastest qualifier from the Heats and the only greyhound to break the 30s barrier, with her 29.96s performance, leading all the way from the one box. She has drawn the six on Wednesday.
Really Unreal, while only posting 30.35s in finishing second to Scorched (30.12s) in her Heat, was one of the better runs of the night, being squeezed soon after the jump, then checked at the first turn, before powering home to finish 3¼ lengths behind the winner. She has drawn box eight.
Also in the semi is Heat winner Midnight Magpie, who despite winning off the eight last week, is much better boxed in the three on Wednesday for Ruth King.
Semi-final number two also sees a pair of Heat winners, Ruth King’s Blinken Billy and John Finn’s Dreamin’ Is Free, another from the Barcia Bale-Chica Destacada litter.
Semi-final three sees Heat winners Gina Spaghetti, Funky Ethics and Blue Summer Sky all engaged.
And in the final semi-final, Silver Heels, a Heat winner in 30.63s will line-up with fellow Heat winners Scorched (30.12s) and Joker Poker (30.26s).
Watch Blanco Caliente winning her Magic Maiden here..
New Sensation
The feature races keep coming this week, and on Wednesday night at Wentworth Park we have five Heats of the Group 3 New Sensation, with some very promising young dogs engaged.
Heat one sees Fantastic Yankee (5) and Cee Jay’s Boy (6) in the race, Heat two will see Nangar Jay - a 30.08s Wenty winner two runs back - racing, while Heat three sees Mark Gatt’s talented Ritza Vonnie - a winner of three of her four starts - likely to start favourite despite drawing the five.
In the fourth Heat, Nangar Diva, who fell in a Heat of the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg on Saturday, has recovered and is expected to be hard to beat off the eight draw, while the last Heat see a strong line-up with Miley Nismo (1), Freaky Franky (2), King Cratos (3), Goods Odds Harada (5) Jimmy Casey (6), and star West Australian Campini – who trialled at Wenty in 29.51s, was fourth in the recent Perth Cup and was unlucky in Saturday’s Easter Egg Heats, out in the eight.
To see the fields for New Sensation Heats go to thedogs.com.au
Neds Friday night Lightning
It was another successful Friday evening at Wentworth Park for night four of the neds Friday Night Lightning.
A large crowd turned out to see the 280m speedsters and the star of the night on the track was Tasmanian dog Ducati George who became just the second dog in the series to break 16s when he posted 15.96s.
The highly successful series will conclude this Friday.
Head here to see the full trainers' leader board.
NSW dogs excel at Sandown Park
NSW-owned and trained greyhounds stole the show at Sandown Park last Thursday with Dolly Mac and Double Back among the most impressive Heat winners of the 2019 Launching Pad series.
Semi-finals of the 515m Launching Pad, will be held on Thursday with the $150,000 to the winner final a week later.
Dolly Mac, trained at Bacchus Marsh by ex-Sydneysider Anthony Azzopardi, is raced by CESSNOCK breeder Susan McCann and is a litter sister to Bulli Gold Cup winner Pindari Express.
Dolly Mac's 29.68s victory in her Heat of the Launching Pad took her record to six wins from seven starts.
Double Back, trained in Sydney by Peter Lagogiane for local owners Ray Grech and Steve Lord, took his record to five wins from nine starts with his determined Launching Pad Heat win in 29.66s.
Among the greyhounds in his wake was hot favourite Flynn, widely regarded as the most exciting up-and-coming sprinter in Melbourne.
If Double Back makes the April 18 final he will give trainer Lagogiane a crack at winning a second successive Launching Pad, after he took out last year's race with Beast Unleashed.
Watch Double Back’s Launching Pad Heat win here.
GAP National Adoption Day looming
It was a tremendously successful day at the new Greyhounds As Pets facility at Western Sydney recently and next on the agenda will be the National Adoption Day on April 28 at Wentworth Park.
The day was a huge success both nationally and local in 2018, with 42 greyhounds finding forever homes as a result of Wentworth Park event.
For more information on greyhound adoption head to the www.gapnsw.com.au
