Ten wins by Perseverance at Tara Raceway during 2020 was sufficient for the daughter of Dyna Double One x Miss Freelove to win the Greyhound of the Year award by one point over Dyna Carnie.
However, as far as the 2020 Tara Trackstar No. 2 was concerned, the second six months hadn’t been as productive for Perseverance – three wins, two seconds and two thirds for a total of 18 points.
As such, there were plenty ahead of her for a spot in the one-off race over 512 metres for the best performed greyhounds at Tara Raceway between July and December.
For a variety of reasons plenty always fall by the wayside, the completion of a final eight to be submitted to Greyhound Racing SA prior to the race being run always something of a logistical problem.
In the end, Perseverance was a reserve. But a subsequent scratching saw her gain a run from box five in the race set down for Sunday, January 10. The event was never run, though, heat-related problems resulting in the abandonment of half the meeting.
The Trackstar was then held over until yesterday. The same field, although a further scratching resulted in Perseverance the second time around jumping from box four in what was now a seven-dog field.
Favourite was the box eight runner Aston Hayato, a noted speedster but yet to win beyond 455 metres for Allendale East trainer David Peckham who had previously won the Trackstar with Flash Jackie and Dyna Naitch.
Not surprisingly, Aston Hayato quickly found the front, opening up a big break down the back straight over strong finisher Perseverance and thereby setting the scene for an interesting finish.
In the end it was Aston Hayato who had the race won everywhere but on the line before Perseverance staged a barnstorming finish to make it an all-local victory by the narrowest of margins in a time of 30.09 seconds.
Perseverance was bred by Tracie Price and reared by him for Mount Gambier owner Michael Robinson. Trainer of the black bitch for her 62 runs, which have resulted in 16 wins, 19 minor placings and more than $16,000 in stakemoney, is Dean Fennell of Glencoe.