A second placing behind Raw Luxury in last Thursday’s Bourne Kennels Open Stake (400 metres) has resulted in Dyna Carnie picking up two valuable points and regaining the lead in the 2020 Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year.
Owned by Tim Aloisi and Matt Lehman and trained at Allendale East by David Peckham, Dyna Carnie this year at Tara Raceway has recorded 12 wins, four seconds and three thirds for a total of 59 points, one clear of Perseverance.
Perseverance, who was unplaced behind Saint Maddie in the Trackside Meats Open Stake (512 m), has accumulated 10 wins, seven seconds and four thirds for local owner Michael Robinson and Glencoe trainer Dean Fennell.
Peckham, yet to train a GOTY but owner of the 1988 winner Canunda Miss who was trained by his father Allen, said Dyna Carnie, a rising five-year-old, was likely to be retired early in the new year.
“With five Category 3 race meetings remaining at Tara Raceway this year I’ll be looking to run him over either 400 metres or 512 metres. Also, he’s guaranteed a start in the Tara Trackstar (512 m) in early January and that may well be his last run.
“With an overall record of 30 wins, 34 minor placings and $105,000 in stakemoney from 113 starts he’s been a terrific dog. A win in the GOTY would certainly be a fitting end to his racing career.”
And Peckham hasn’t ruled out the possibility of using Dyna Carnie as a sire. The 32 kilograms black dog lacks nothing when it comes to breeding, being by US sire Kelsos Fusileer out of Xylia Allen who won 40 races and more than $740,000 in stakemoney.
Dyna Carnie and Perseverance’s battle for GOTY honours is somewhat reminiscent to that of 2018 when Jeff Guy’s Paraphernalia and Nicole Stanley’s Oh No Beta battled it out in the final month of the year.
With only two meetings remaining, the pair was level on 61 points. But in what could only be described as an “error of judgement” on the part of Guy, Paraphernalia was not nominated for the December 16 meeting. This left the way clear for Oh No Beta who lined up a heat of the Santa Sprint.
Guy dodged a bullet, though, after Oh No Beta ran fifth and was relegated to the bench for the final on December 21. Paraphernalia was back for that meeting and needed to run only a place to clinch the GOTY – a second placing giving him the award by two points.
For Stanley, it was a case of going desperately close to winning her third successive GOTY after Old Jock and Fiorelli Rose had previously been successful.