Sunday, January 26, 2020

Four winners at Tara Raceway’s Australia Day meeting on Sunday has seen Compton trainer Tracie Price issue an early challenge to David Peckham of Allendale East for 2020 training honours.

With 13 Tara Raceway winners this month, Price, winner of the inaugural Ian Badger Leading Trainer award in 2018, is now only one win behind Peckham who was last year’s Ian Badger winner.

Price landed an early double when Luke Diegmann’s High Fly Dorothy led all the way in the Gambier Vets Stake (400 m), holding out Black Moscato to win by 2¾ lengths in 23.39 seconds.

Then, in the following race, the Produce Store Stake (400 m), Michael Robinson and Willie Vossen’s Vossy, chased Cleansing Ale until the home turn before finishing strongly for a 2½ length win in 23.11 seconds.

Price was also successful in the final race, the Greyhound-Data.com Mixed Stake (400 m), when his wife Karen’s Banjo Bad Boy led all the way to defeat Azumi Stringer by four lengths in 23.05 seconds.

But it was the win of Tandiki, having only her seventh race start, in the Fairthorne Forestry Stake (512 m) that was the highlight of Price’s big day.

Also raced by Robinson and Vossen, Tandiki is a litter sister to High Fly Dorothy, the white and black bitch overcoming early interference before rounding up Clyde Jakit off the back and running away to a 6½ length win in 29.74 seconds, a time bettered only by Spring Value in the Australia Day Open.

By Peter Rocket out of Headline, the May 2018 whelping now looms as one of the major hopes in this year’s Summer Classic (512 m), heats of which will be run on Sunday, February 16.

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