Magri keeps clocking up the winners

By Jeff Collerson
A winning double by GINA Keeping and Rumble Master at Bulli on Saturday night gave in-form trainer Jason Magri 66 winners for 2020, with his five starters since Thursday resulting in four wins and a second.


Magri won at Dapto on Thursday with Zipping Hoppo and finished second with Zipping Ivy, then scored at Goulburn on Friday with Good Odds Buddy before landing Saturday's Bulli double.


On Saturday GINA Keeping set the 400m time standard by landing a fourth and fifth grade event in 22.42s, taking her record to six wins from seven starts and enhancing her unbeaten Bulli tally of four from four.



She was second away from box seven but quickly dashed clear and raced away to easily beat former Tasmanian Blue Bentley, now in the western Sydney kennel of Glen McKinley.

Rumble Master led throughout to win the 400m Free-For-All in 22.75s, holding off a strong late finish from Hardaway Titan with Fontezza, who was second turning for home, a fading third.

Clearly quickest 472m figures of the Bulli meeting were carved out by the Mark Gatt-trained former Victorian Beau Herrera, who won a fourth and fifth grade in a slick 26.35s, just .05s slower than the figures he posted winning a fifth grade at the same track a week earlier.


Beau Herrera had box six when he won for Gatt last week but relished his inside box two draw on Saturday.


Takahi Toby continued a lengthy partnership between owner Darryl Dunnell and Dapto trainer Joe Bertinato when he led all the way to win Saturday night's opening event, a 400m Maiden Stakes.


Takahi Toby had made the pace when second at Bulli on April 18 and again last week after having been placed in just three of nine previous starts.


"I have been training dogs for Darryl for the past eight or nine years and we raced both Takahi Toby's grand dam Moonshine Party and his mother Moonshine Nipper, who each won six races,'' Bertinato said later.

"Takahi Toby has jumped smartly at his past three starts which is why his form is now so much better.

"Earlier in his career he wasn't beginning at all well but the penny seems to have dropped now.

"We won with his litter sister Takahi Nipper over 520m at Dapto in a smart 30.09s on April 23 and while Takahi Toby is not strong at the finish, she ran home in fast time which suggests she will become a middle distance bitch.''

Kel Lean, who owns group 1 winner and now successful stud dog Keybow, made a smart move when he leased the former smart short course bitch Miss Blockbuster to mate with his former crack race dog.


The union of Keybow and Miss Blockbuster, who won 14 of 30 starts and at one stage notched seven sprint wins in succession, produced Saturday night's 340m fifth grade winner Black Eye Key.


Trained by Andrew Mulrine, Black Eye Key was a close second behind Peek's Angel to the home turn but gradually gained control in the straight to win narrowly.


After the race Lean said: "I leased Miss Blockbuster from her owner Michael Brooks, mated her with my stud dog Keybow and was rewarded with two pups from the litter.


"One of them, Sakeyna, won at Maitland on April 27 and now Black Eye Key has won his fifth race from 23 starts.

"Black Eye Key had box six tonight but he will go much better from an inside draw as he is desperate for a rails alley.

"He kept getting hampered trying to get across Peek's Angel tonight and like his father Keybow, Black Eye Key is a very determined chaser.''

Best thing beaten on Saturday night at Bulli was undoubtedly the Neville Brown-trained Nangar Kane, who finished second to all-the-way winner Brisk in race 10, a 472m fifth grade.


Nangar Kane, the warm favourite, missed the start from box eight but after working his way to fourth position near the home bend, was turned sideways after colliding with a rival, a setback which cost him the race.