Kid Candle pulled off an upset $11 victory in the 2020 Woy Woy Poultry Gosford Gold Cup and his trainer Geoff Grimwood will be aiming for a second success when Aston Zodiac lines up for heats of the 2021 edition of the group 2 event on December 27.
Aston Zodiac, who scored her 15th win in 39 outings when she ran her rivals off their legs - again - in last Wednesday's Wentworth Park Free-For-All, is untried at Gosford.
"She had her first look at Gosford when I gave her a post-to-post slip before she won at Wenty and I plan to trial her from the 515m boxes on Friday,'' Grimwood said.
"Gosford should suit Aston Zodiac and she went nice when she had that first look at the track.
"Aston Zodiac has always been able to jump smartly and carve out quick splits so I hope she can keep that up at Gosford in the next couple of weeks.''
The Final of the 515m Cup, worth $40,000 to the winner, will be staged on January 3, 18 days before Aston Zodiac's third birthday.
Aston Zodiac is raced by Ray Borda, the SA-based businessman who has dozens of greyhounds in competition with several trainers throughout Australia.
Grimwood's 2020 Gosford Cup winner Kid Candle was sent out an $11 chance from box five, and after trailing the Peter Lagogiane-trained Double Back in the early stages, pounced on the lead at the half-way mark.
Kid Candle then staved off a late challenge from Sid Swain's Paws Of Thunder winner Buck's Future to win by just under a length in 29.60.
Race record of 29.15 had been set when Peter Lagogiane's Beast Unleashed won the 2019 final from She's Gifted and Cosmic Bonus, after taking the lead just before the first corner.
Like most of his NSW colleagues, Geoff Grimwood breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that the mighty Flying Ricciardo would miss the Gosford race to contest the Silver Chief Classic at Melbourne's The Meadows course.
Kristy Sultana's Flying Ricciardo had trainers of his prospective rivals in awe, especially since running down four times group 1 winner Simon Told Helen in last Thursday night's group 1 Sportsbet Dapto Megastar.
And who could blame them, with Flying Ricciardo smashing the race record in the Megastar, just as he had done in winning the group 2 Black Top at LADBROKES GARDENS in August.
Syndicated greyhounds continue to give new owners an exciting introduction to the sport, with the latest, Big Gordy, scoring impressively on debut at Wentworth Park last Wednesday.
The Peter Lagogiane-trained dog is now favoured to win this Saturday night's Maiden Final at Wentworth Park.
The syndicate which races Big Gordy, a 21 month old fawn son of Fernando Bale and Flash Riot, includes 11 first time owners, among them plumbers and cafe proprietors.
Big Gordy came from fourth in the middle stages and overcame a bumping battle on the back straight to roar away and win his heat by four lengths in 30.50.
"He can go a lot quicker because his time tonight was about half a second slower than what he has been trialling,'' Lagogiane said after the heat win.
