For Glencoe husband and wife training team, Dean and Edna Fennell, Thursday’s double with Saint Eilish and King Smiley had been their first.
Mind you, it was a real heart stopping sort of double with both greyhounds winning by a half head.
Dean Fennell’s Saint Eilish, who was chasing her first win over 600 metres in the Rock’s Tavern 0-2 Wins Stake, defeated Galactic Hera in a time of 35.74 seconds.
Saint Eilish is owned at Koroit by Peter Byrne, who also bred the daughter of Barcia Bale x Miss Lava. An earlier litter, by Peter Rocket, produced Saint Maddie who won 10 races at Tara Raceway for the same owner-trainer team.
Ironically, at Tara Raceway’s meeting a week earlier, Edna Fennell’s King Smiley had defeated Saint Eilish over 512 metres by a half head in 30.47 seconds.
That win, his third, had been King Smiley’s first in six months. It then took only another week to bring up his fourth, albeit just as narrowly, when defeating Flying Fuels in Thursday’s Produce Store Stake (512 m) in 30.66 seconds.
A give away after breaking-in, King Smiley is a son of Spring Gun x Bekim Lucy’s. And there’s plenty of winning form around the breed.
Bred at Compton by Tracie Price, Bekim Lucy’s won 11 races over 512 metres, 600 metres and 732 metres at Tara Raceway. She also won over 731 metres at Angle Park. Litter brother Blazing Moment won 17 races in SA and WA. He was also a finalist in the 2017 Darwin Cup.
Raced locally by Michael Robinson and Willie Vossen, Bekim Lucy’s was the forerunner to further success for the owners through the deeds of Tandiki, Vossy and Rocketline.
Edna Fennell’s involvement in the sport actually goes back to 1997 when local greyhound racing commenced at Tara Raceway on Lake Terrace East and her husband first became interested. However, King Smiley is one of the first dogs she has trained.
Meanwhile, Portland trainer Nifty Lenehan landed a double at Warrnambool on Thursday night with Aston Shintaro and Radioactive.
Earlier in the night, Aston Falcon, a quick winner at Tara Raceway the previous week for Lenehan, ran a length second to Idolize in a heat of the GRV VICBRED series (450 m) and is through to next Thursday’s $4250 to the winner final.
