Nobody was quite sure who had won … except Minnie Finn who danced her way into the catching pen, already celebrating the victory of Zipping Orlando in the Ladbrokes 715 at The Gardens on Saturday night.
It was close and there were no numbers displayed on the semaphore board. But Minnie was confident her dog had arrived just in time to grab the tearaway leader Nangar Rocket.
A lot of people thought the same way as Minnie, but the judge took a bit more convincing, and with every second it took for the winning number to be displayed, the concern grew that maybe Minnie may have gone off a bit early with the celebrations.
It was equally tense for Dennis and Ann Barnes as they waited quietly to see if perhaps Nangar Rocket had held on, for the win, or even for a dead-heat.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity after around four minutes, the judge made a decision and the number 2 went in the frame. Zipping Orlando had taken out the $500,000 first prize for Minnie, her husband John and owners Marty and Fiona Hallinan.
“Down the back when I could see him coming, I thought well the five (Nangar Rocket) stopped last week, and I know how strong he (Zipping Orlando) is,” Minnie explained.
Asked why she thought she had won, she said: “Well over there (at the 715 start on the opposite side of the track) with all the signs and the truck in the way, I wasn’t sure, but I knew that after the line he was a half in front, so I thought, maybe.”
On the line was the only time Zipping Orlando was in front in the entire 715m journey and Minnie was right, but only just, with both the winner and runner-up recording the identical time of 41.67s, with third placegetter Palawa King storming home to finish just a half-length behind the pair.
While they take home $50,000 for second, it was a case of a close as you can possibly getting without winning for the Barnes’. If the race was named The 714 due to that being the distance at The Gardens, they would have been $500,000 richer.
“It was very close, and I thought he would hang on,” said Dennis Barnes. “If you won a $50,000 (second prizemoney in the 715) race somewhere you’d be thrilled, but when it’s so close and you’ve missed $500,000 you feel it.”
It was the 27th start of Zipping Orlando’s career in the 715, and only his sixth trip over the staying distance. He now has 15 wins and six placings and almost $700,000 in prizemoney.
“For the Hallinan family, they bred the mother (Zipping Dharma), they bred the father (Zipping Garth), that's a big achievement and they just keep producing the good dogs,” Minnie said.
“Marty and John said that he was going to be a great stayer after start five. I had my doubts because I thought he was just too brilliant early. But John said don't worry, and Marty said he's going to be a good stayer.
“And he's only a baby. He's got it all ahead of him.”
The Finns have won countless features over the years, but Minnie said this one was special not only for the huge prizemoney.
“This is brilliant. My grand daughter came with me and my daughter in law is here, and they're a big help at home. John doesn't come these days because of the cold weather. I reckon he'd be at home crying. No, he'd be hysterical. He was very confident and so was Marty, but I'm never overconfident.”
Except apparently when she knows she got a the winner in a tight photo.
