The Lain Beckett-managed Yeah Nah Syndicate, together with the Moorak training team of Melissa Freitag and Jason Newman, would have been suitably impressed with the effort of Come On Kilkenny in last week’s Cadillac Racing Open Stake (512 metres) at Tara Raceway.
Chasing his third consecutive win at the Mount Gambier track, the light brindle dog was taking on a fair sort of field – Top Cadillac, Lightning Pest and Sweet Secret for starters – when jumping from box two and leading all the way in 29.92 seconds.
Come On Kilkenny brought up his 13th win – seven of those at the local track – from 46 starts when having a length to spare over Lightning Pest and a further head back to a fast finishing Sweet Secret. Close up in fourth spot was Top Cadillac.
Purchased in October last year after having won five races on Victorian tracks, the syndicate transferred the dog to the Gibbons kennels at Avalon where he remained until February before finding his way to Moorak.
And it didn’t take Come On Kilkenny long to get back among the winners over 400 metres at Mount Gambier. But several weeks later was when the rot set in following a win over 512 metres that brought with it a 21 day suspension for injury and a satisfactory trial.
“Something happened that day by the 600 metre boxes and after that for the next four months or so every time we trialled him at the track in readiness for his satisfactory trial he would pull up at the same spot,” Newman said.
“Eventually, though, he did pass his satisfactory trial and then went on to win first up over 400 metres so I guess you could say all’s well that ends well.”
By Fernando Bale, Come On Kilkenny is out of Naughty Cazza, a winner of six races and $27,000 in prize money. She whelped three litters to Fernando Bale with last week’s Tara Raceway winner from the third mating.
Other littermates of Come On Kilkenny, now a winner of 13 races and $41,000 in prize money, include Succeed (14, $106,000), Lure Of Kilkenny (10, $60,000) and Fernando Gomez (10, $60,000).
Among the first Fernando Bale litter were Fernando Bluey (27, $202,000), Fernando Cazz (12, $146,000), Fernando Frank (13, $76,000) and Mighty Marvin (16, $41,000).
And the second litter includes Commander Tommy (6, $40,000) and Johnny Cool (8, $40,000).
Handling Come On Kilkenny in last week’s race was Newman’s 15-year-old daughter Zari, currently attending the Mount Gambier High School but with aspirations to study veterinary science.
“I’m not sure Zari’s looking to train but she does have two pet greyhounds and is certainly a big help on race days, especially with Come On Kilkenny who really loves her,” Newman said.
For Freitag, Come On Kilkenny’s win had been the first leg of a running double. Following was Amendola who scored a length win over Blue Phoenix in the Da’Leni Meats Stake (512 m) in 29.93 seconds.
Newman was also successful in his own right as a trainer when Gypsy Chick, now a winner of 14 races, defeated Eskimo Larry in the Gordon Refrigeration Stake (400 m).
Gypsy Chick, a daughter of Bernardo and Spirited Bingle, one of the leading dams at Tara Raceway this year, is owned locally by Shane Flink who purchased the black bitch as a pup from Portland breeder Robert Halliday.