Greyhound racing's Sydney suburban non-TAB feature event the Bankstown City Cup will return to Potts Park next month after a hiatus of six years.
Potts Park's Mike Ekert has announced that 530m heats will be run during Saturday afternoon May 13 on the pretty little circuit in Yagoona, with the $10,000 to the winner final over the same course a week later.
"The Bankstown City Cup has not been held since 2017 and we are excited to have it back, particularly as it is being sponsored by Canterbury-Bankstown Council with support from GRNSW,'' Ekert said.
"The Cup heats will be for dogs of any age or grade but will be restricted to greyhounds with a maximum of two metropolitan area wins.
"In conjunction with the Cup we will be staging maiden heats over 320m on May 13 with a $1500 to the winner final a week later.
"Potts Park has a grass surface which has never been in better shape than it is right now.''
Bargo trainer Simon Rhodes' Vivian Bale was runner-up to the Mark Gatt-trained Ritza Rossi in the 2015 Bankstown City Cup and Rhodes is likely to nominate Jimmy Bale for the reintroduced 2023 event.
"I have had a few finalists in the Bankstown City Cup without winning one, Vivian Bale was closest I got after another of my dogs had finished third in the 2014 final,'' Rhodes said.
"Jimmy Bale has won 10 of his 28 races but he is eligible as he has not won in town, all his wins for me have been at Dapto and Nowra, while he has been placed in each of five Wentworth Park races.''
Wendy Rocks got within .08sec of Burnt Ends' Casino 620m record set in November, 2020 when she won by 13 lengths on Friday and trainer John Dart says there is "no risk" she will run 720m.
"She doesn't turn two until May 25 but I'm not going to tell her how old she is,'' Dart quipped.
"But Wendy Rocks has a massive motor and is nearly as good as Gypsy Del, who won nine of 19 starts for me in 2021 and 2022 before passing away.''
Wendy Rocks has always had such a lofty reputation that she has been an odds-on favourite in six of her eight races, with her longest winning price just $1.70.
Lagoon Gunn could hardly have been more impressive in his middle distance debut at Dapto on Thursday but trainer Ray Webster will "wait and see" before stepping the promising youngster up to staying journeys.
Having his first 600m test and only his 13th start, Lagoon Gunn led all the way from box one to trounce a smart lineup in a flying 34.39, just .40sec outside Bandit Jane's track record.
"I was fairly confident he would win on Thursday because he had finally drawn a decent box, he had the rails, and I was sure he would run out a strong 600m,'' Webster said.
"But I'm not getting carried away and will give Lagoon Gunn a couple more middle distance races before deciding whether to try him over longer distances.''
Lagoon Gunn won from box one at his race debut over 520m at WP on December 7 in a fast 29.83 but a succession of poor draws has restricted his tally to 13 starts for three wins and five seconds.
