Yass trainer Neil Staines admits his latest kennel star Lightning VISION may not be the fastest in his kennel, but he also concedes the winner of Tuesday’s Ladbrokes Zoom Top Maiden doesn’t cause him as many concerns as his fastest greyhound.
Lightning VISION justified his short quote when he powered to the lead early, and raced away for an impressive 5¼ length win in a slick 24.68s, slightly faster than the time he posted in last week’s heats. Second went to reserve Conrod Straight with Ebby Infrared a further ¾ length away in third.
Lightning VISION’s task of winning was made a far bit easier on Monday when second favourite Paua To Oscar was withdrawn after injuring a toe while trialing on the weekend, but as Staines knows only too well, even when things appear perfectly in your favour, they don’t always work out the way you want.
“Yeah you can never be over-confident,” Staines said of his confidence level following Paua To Oscar’s scratching. “There’s been many times when you think you’ve got it all set up, and something will go wrong.
“He sort of half-missed the start but the dog in the two didn’t bother him at all, which gave him a bit of room, and he showed that speed to charge through to the lead.”
Staines has put the collar and lead on many smart greyhounds throughout his career, and one of those, Bogan Doonie, came perilously close to qualifying for last year’s Million Dollar Chase grand final, finishing a length second behind Azkaban in the event’s semi-finals. A week later she was runner-up to True Talent in the Million Dollar Chase consolation.
“He’s (Lightning VISION) not as fast as Bogan Doonie, but he’s more reliable,” Staines explained. “When I say that, I mean in terms of box manners. This dog is getting it. He was having his problems with boxes early but he’s starting to get it together now. If they can string three or four (good starts) together you know you’ve got them. Doonie … she’s likely to turn up and play up. You don’t know when you’ve got her.”
Staines sent Lightning VISION to local trainer Amanda Rayner to prepare to run in the rich Grafton Maiden series in early July. He finished second in his heat and missed the final.
“He was still a bit green when he went up there and Amanda had a bit of work to do with him,” Staines said.
“The original plan with him was we would try Grafton (Maiden series) then we would try Goulburn (Zoom Top) then we’ll have a crack at Dapto (Maiden series). That was the plan. I guess we need to look elsewhere now instead of Dapto.”
