He had trained three winners at a meeting in the past, but hat-tricks were as far as Jason Magri had gone. Until this week.
The Kemps Creek mentor took five dogs to Bulli last Saturday night - ZIPPING Carlos, What A Debacle, Rampaging Hazard, ZIPPING Ivy, and Roused. Only Roused was beaten, finishing second, to give Magri his first quartet of winners at a meeting.
Then on Wednesday night at Wentworth Park, ZIPPING Carlos’ littermates – ZIPPING Miranda, ZIPPING Zeek and ZIPPING Sultan, all won heats of the NSW Bred Maiden series, while the only other dog Magri took to Wentworth Park, Black Rampage, won a fifth grade event.
In the space of four days, he had achieved something he never had … twice.
And, with nine runners Magri had won eight races and finished second with his other starter.
“I have had a few hat-tricks, but I’ve never had four at a meeting before,” Magri said on Thursday. “The first time I had done it was on Saturday, so now I’ve done it at the provincials and at Wentworth Park.
“I am having a bit of run at the moment, but in this sport you have more bad runs than good ones, so you have to make the most of the good ones when they come along.
“I don’t think there is any special reason for it, it’s just one of those things. I have good young stock coming through at the moment which helps, and the kennel is just firing at the moment which is good.”
Some of that young stock are the 22-month-old ZIPPINGs – Zippng Carlos, ZIPPING-zeek">ZIPPING Zeek, Miranda, Sultan and their four brothers, all by Zulu Zeus out of Crafty Lady, and owned by Marty and Fiona Hallinan.
ZIPPING Junior and ZIPPING Kojak make their racetrack debuts in the opening event at Bulli on Saturday night, while ZIPPING Hoppo and ZIPPING Denzel still await their first racetrack starts.
“There’s eight in the litter and they all go alright,” Magri said. “I am training the whole litter and they are all going to win races.”
Magri had trialled both ZIPPING Zeek and ZIPPING Sultan at Wentworth Park prior to their debuts on Wednesday, and both had clocked slick times - ZIPPING Zeek 29.70s and ZIPPING Sultan 29.90s. In their Maiden heats they were not as quick but were impressive, ZIPPING Sultan winning by 8¾ lengths in 30.16s while ZIPPING Zeek was last to jump, received some contact on the first turn, but ultimately raced away for a 5¾ length win in 30.05s. ZIPPING Miranda - the only bitch in the litter - won her heat in 30.21s.
“Obviously I was really happy getting them all through to the final,” Magri said. “They have done well for young dogs, they all have to work through the field, so they showed pretty good racing ability I thought.
“They can go a lot quicker, but they just have to learn how to race and learn about the boxes. They are not going to be front runners, they are going to be coming from the back all the time, that’s just the breed. But they have plenty of ability.”
The $10,000 to the winner NSW Bred Maiden Series Final will held at Wentworth Park on January 11.
