Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Ashby Mayhem, one of a number of greyhounds to have her fortunes turned around by Penshurst husband and wife training team Brendan and Kayla Bunworth, looks to be another likely Summer Classic contender.
This follows her impressive front-running 512 metres debut at Tara Raceway last Sunday in the Trackside Meats Stake for maiden/one win greyhounds when she defeated Oscar The Scout by three-quarters of a length in a more than handy 30.02 seconds.
Heats of the Summer Classic (512 m), for dogs and bitches whelped on or after January 1, 2018, will be run on Sunday, February 16 with the final a week later.
The win was a good start to the year for the Bunworths, the pair collectively training 16 winners last year at Tara Raceway – most of them being giveaways.
Whelped in April 2018, Ashby Mayhem is another such greyhound, early reports suggesting that she probably wouldn’t make the grade although so far there have been no complaints from the Penshurst couple, the black bitch having raced on nine occasions for two wins and four minor placings.
“We’ve already had a bit of fun with her and hopefully she can now measure up on Thursday night at Warrnambool,” Brendan Bunworth said. “Actually, also making things easier has been that Kayla’s sister Susan is living here at the moment and she’s been a great help with the dogs.”
By Barcia Bale, Ashby Mayhem is out of the beautifully bred Glass Roof, a daughter of Brett Lee and West On Bluebird (a litter sister to former champion stayer Miata, along with Deville and Sure As).
A winner of nine Victorian races, Glass Roof’s litter also includes Shared Bonus (45 wins, $158,000 stakemoney) and Shared Equity (31, $291,000).
For Nicole Stanley’s Oscar The Scout it was his fourth consecutive second at Tara Raceway over 512 metres, although the Portland trainer also enjoyed a good start to the year with Jackie Dee and Close Your Eyes successful earlier in the day.
And the following night at Warrnambool Burst The Seam brought up his third successive win at the track for Stanley when clocking a smart 25.12 seconds win over the 450 metres journey.
Meanwhile, back at Tara Raceway on Sunday afternoon, the Winmore Greyhound Kennels Juvenile Stake (400 m) had attracted a fair line-up of greyhounds all under two years of age – including Sweet On Me who was lining up from box one in an attempt to win five consecutive races at the track.
Also taking a keen interest in the race were Millicent couple Hayden Fennell and his partner Ebony Janz, owners of box seven runner General Max, the son of Worm Burner x Miss Hodge trained for them by Fennell’s father, Dean.
“Right or wrong, when I was looking around a couple of years ago all I wanted was a pup by the SA champion sprinter Worm Burner – the dam didn’t matter,” said Fennell as General Max made his way around to Tara Raceway’s 400 metre start.
“In the end I settled for a couple of pups out of Miss Hodge, bred by the Fulton family over at Ecklin South. Fair enough, there would be no SA-bred bonuses but they were by Worm Burner.”
A January 2018 whelping, General Max’s Juvenile status will conclude at the end of the month. His outstanding effort last Sunday to defeat Sweet On Me by six lengths in 23.07 seconds brought up his first win in Juvenile company and allows him one more win in this grade.
However, from a Juvenile point of view, SA-bred greyhounds carry a significant advantage when it comes to age-restricted racing as they are able to win six of this grade at Tara Raceway.