In the space six hours in NSW greyhound racing on Friday, the reign of the Queen was looking a little shaky, but the King was firmly back on the throne.
While She’s A Pearl was not disgraced, but did fail to qualify for the TAB Million Dollar Chase semi-finals at Goulburn in the afternoon, at Richmond later that night, the King, ZIPPING Kyrgios produced an amazing performance to not only win the Regional Final, and qualify for those same semi-finals, but he also announced himself as a legitimate contender for the $1 million in what may be his racing swansong.
From the one box King Kyrgios was away fairly but on the first turn he moved off the fence and found himself in a little trouble. He was sixth heading up the back and worked his way into fourth swinging for home.
Up front, kennelmate Gatlin had led but was pressured all the way by Panama Pepper and heading for home, Panama Pepper looked set to surge to the lead. But as they swung Gatlin moved up the track, Panama Pepper had to check, and Chasing Fernando got up inside the leaders.
Just as the trio were set to fight it out, The King descended, roaring to the front near the line and finishing with such speed he won by ¾ length in 29.49s. Chasing Fernando was second and Gatlin third with that pair also receiving invitations into the MDC semi-finals.
West Australian Panama Pepper will now have to head to Wentworth Park next Saturday for the City Qualifiers if he plans to progress through the series.
It’s the same story for Victorian Photo Man, a finalist in the May TAB Million Dollar Chase, after the Gavin Clifton-trained greyhound finished back in 7th position.
“I’m very proud of him,” said trainer John Finn’s wife Minnie. “He gave me heart failure being that far back. He came out alright but going into the first turn he moved off again. It was an enormous win.
“I’m very excited. He’s coming to an end (his career) because he’s going to go to the stud, so let’s hope he can make the big dance, and then go out a winner.
“Yeah … he is special to us. He’s a beautiful dog. And when it (his racing) comes to an end, he will be living on our lounge for a long time.
“We’ll take him down to Wentworth Park now and give him a bit of education around there again. His last run was a bit disappointing there, so we’ll do a bit of homework with him and hope he can draw an inside box.”
Asked if he had one last big race in him, an emotional Minnie said: “We’re hoping so, but if he doesn’t it doesn’t matter. He’s been a terrific dog. It will be hard to get another dog as good as him.”
The win took ZIPPING Kyrgios’s record to 70 starts for 30 wins and 22 placings and his prizemoney is now just over $437,000.
Among his big feature race wins are the the Group 2 Black Top at The Gardens, the Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup, the Group 3 Bob Payne at Wentworth Park, and the inaugural Country Classic at Dubbo in March this year.
