It was a case of the previous week’s Razza Racing Feature Maiden heat winners Zambora Jay and Sugar Freak fighting out yesterday’s second running of the Tony and Lisa Rasmussen sponsored 305 metre final.
Zambora Jay, after displaying brilliant early pace in his heat, was always going to be hard to beat when drawing box one in the final.
And that’s how it turned out, the fawn son of Orson Allen x Crazy Jo Jo opening up a handy break early over Sugar Freak before holding on to win by a length in 17.63 seconds. Aston Olenna defeated Sianna Magic by two lengths in 17.49 seconds in last year’s inaugural event.
The winner is trained at Koroit by Peter Byrne who said the offer of the dog in early January came completely out of the blue after owner Charlie Azzopardi had been looking for someone to take Zambora Jay.
“He’d been placed at his first three starts at Cranbourne, Geelong and Ballarat and I knew the Razza Racing event was coming up so I figured he might be worth a try,” he said.
“I did speak with the previous trainer, wondering why he had been looking to move the dog on so early in his career. He said ‘every morning I’d come out and somehow he would have escaped from his kennel and I’d find him out on the main road’.”
Byrne said so far he hadn’t found Zambora Jay roaming the streets of Koroit.
Tony Rasmussen was on track for the Razza Racing final. Speaking at the presentation, he thanked the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club for the manner in which it conducts the race. He also pledged his family’s continued support for the event.
Rasmussen, SA’s leading trainer, picked up a race of his own yesterday when Express Speed led all the way in the Gambier Vets Stake (512 m) to defeat Tapering Off by three lengths in 29.89 seconds.