Saturday, August 25, 2018
Former Tara Raceway 600 metre record holders Miss Jacovella and Striking Viking were back among the winners yesterday when Miss Jacky and Viking Storm were successful at the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club’s time-graded meeting.
Miss Jacky, a daughter of Pure Octane and Miss Jacovella, has been trained at Portland by Nifty Lenehan since early this month after previously having raced on 16 occasions over short-course distances on Victorian tracks.
Speaking after the race, Lenehan said he had been keen to step up the fawn bitch in distance, a 512 metre trial at Tara Raceway confirming his belief that the extra ground wasn’t going to present too many problems at a time-graded meeting.
“She went around here on Tuesday morning in 30.30 seconds so I figured that would make her competitive in today’s race,” he said.
And that’s the way the Produce Store Stake panned out, Miss Jacky – owned at Koroit by Mick Walsh – leading all the way and eventually defeating Stella Story by a length in 30.39 seconds.
“I was pleased with the run,” Lenehan said. “Fair enough, she got a bit tired in the run home but that was only her second time over the distance so she should improve a bit on that.”
Miss Jacovella, when racing, a magnificent-looking 32 kilogram blue bitch, took Cheap Currency’s 600 metre record from 35.11 seconds down to 35.08 seconds on August 14, 2015 for Bushfield owner-trainer Gary Lane who also enjoyed plenty of success with her litter sister Dee Tee.
By El Grand Senor x Mantra Miss, Miss Jacovella raced on 38 occasions for six wins and 12 minor placings, holding the middle-distance record until the Peter Byrne trained Unsub Andy ran 35.04 seconds on March 11, 2016.
Viking Storm, a daughter of Barcia Bale and Striking Viking, led all the way in the Williams Crane Hire Stake (400 m), scoring an emphatic win in 23.39 seconds for Allendale East trainer David Peckham and his long-time kennel clients Ross Schurgott and the Viking Syndicate.
By Superman out of Irish Fantasy, Striking Viking recorded 15 wins and 26 minor placings, her 600 metre time of 35.38 seconds run on November 30, 2014 being declared the inaugural record and one that stood until Cheap Currency’s run in March the following year.
And while the black bitch’s 83-start race record was more than handy, Striking Viking tended to live in the shadow of her litter sister, Thanks Tubby, who held the Tara Raceway 512 metre record at 29.60 seconds for three years.
Peckham ended the day with a double after former North Queensland greyhound Downtown Pixie led all the way from box four in the Greyhound-Data.com Stake (400 m), eventually running out a six length winner over Lektra Jenny in a best of day 23.19 seconds.
By Magic Sprite out of Paige Express, Downtown Pixie, now a winner of two short-course races at Tara Raceway, had won at Townsville and Cairns prior to joining Peckham’s kennels last month.
The litter also includes Faringdon, who will jump from box four in the final of the Group 3 Angliss Meats Townsville Cup (498 m) on Tuesday night after an unlucky second in a heat.