Canya Exclusive won't be resting on his laurels following his impressive win in last Friday's Group 3 Charcoal Inn Casino Cup and is headed to Maitland for this Friday's heats of the Group 2 East Maitland Bowling Club Gold Cup.
Trained by Michele Lill for a syndicate headed by South Australian Nick Lalli, Canya Exclusive took his record to 13 wins from 17 starts with his easy victory at Casino, covering the 484m in a slick 27.43.
Michelle Lill's husband Mick explained that Canya Exclusive had been a lucky acquisition for their kennels at Greta in the Hunter Valley.
He said: "Nick's trainer in NSW was originally Mark Moroney but when he moved to Grafton, for quite a while he only had limited room with just three kennels available.
"Nick asked him to recommend someone else in NSW to train for him and Mark kindly told him to give his dogs to Michelle and I.
"One of the first dogs we trained for Nick was Buzz Junkie, who finished up winning a group one Adelaide Cup.
"Buzz Junkie was always going okay but he improved out of sight when we discovered he had a testicle jammed behind his groin and when we had that removed he was a different dog.
"And on Thursday we have an unraced dog of his called Canya Inferno, who goes pretty good, making his debut in a heat of the Ladbrokes Future Stars Maiden.
"Nick Lalli's partners in Canya Exclusive come from all over the place but include a couple of members of the Port Adelaide AFL side.
"Nick is certainly enjoying the ride because not too long ago he had won very little with his dogs, now he has scored a group one and a group three success.''
Michelle and Mick Lill are especially keen to win a Maitland Cup as their wonderful sprinter More Sauce was a narrow runner-up in the 2021 final.
More Sauce, who set a Maitland 450m record of 24.76 when he easily defeated Ebby Jet Power in a Cup heat, was beaten by that dog in a photo finish in the final in 24.87.
"Races don't always go according to script but Friday's Temora To Wenty final certainly did,'' said trainer Michael Clayton after his dog Jake Peralta bolted away in a handy 30.08.
Jake Peralta had box one and secured a dream rails run at the first turn when Bull's Chance, a Wentworth Park newcomer, made the early pace from box three but veered off the track at the first turn.
Ironically Bull's Chance is trained by veteran Jack Roy, who was Michael Clayton's greyhound racing mentor.
Clayton said: "I made the three hour trip to Temora for the heats because I figured if Jake Peralta could qualify he might have the wood on the other finalists as far as Wentworth Park experience was concerned.
"He finished second to Bull's Chance in his Temora heat but I was happy with that run because Jake Peralta had never seen the track while Jack Roy's dog had previously had half a dozen starts there.
"The boot was on the other foot at Wenty, where Jake Peralta had run 29.92 in a stewards' trial and contested four races awhile Bull's Chance had not seen the track.''
Jake Peralta, formerly trained in Victoria, has now had seven starts for Clayton for a win and three seconds.
