Saturday, March 7, 2020
Will Koroit greyhound trainer Peter Keane ever live down that November night at Warrnambool last year when Our Ando threw away what looked to be a certain victory? Probably not.
That was the night that Our Ando had been called before the stewards, Keane offering an unsuccessful impassioned plea for mercy after claiming that his dog had been distracted by a flock of seagulls in the run up the home straight.
Our Ando is a member of the Fernando Bale x Sisco Sizzle litter bred in April 2018 by the Many Winners Syndicate which comprises Keane, his sister-in-law Bev Keane, Lindsay Brookes, Gary Thomson and Graham Dix.
Seagulls aside, though, the litter of six dogs and six bitches has done pretty well, 10 having now raced with six so far winning a total of 14 races.
Keane, together with his trusty sidekicks Brookes and Thomson, have also been doing pretty well at Tara Raceway over the past few weeks, culminating with a couple of other littermates in Me Silly and Nanda Sizzle successful at Thursday’s time-graded meeting.
The Brookes-owned Me Silly, coming off a maiden win the previous week – always a tough ask as they rarely win at their first run out of a maiden – quickly found the front in the Rock’s Retreat Stake (400 metres) before running away to a four length win over Angry Answer in 23.44 seconds.
And Nanda Sizzle, purchased as a pup by Karyn Nicholas – a friend of Keane’s wife Anne – finished powerfully in the home straight to defeat early leader Maunganui Havoc by four lengths in 23.49 seconds in the Greg Martlew Autos Stake (400 m).
A daughter of Barcia Bale x Sisco Power, Sisco Sizzle was purchased for $4,500 by the syndicate at the 2016 Ready2Race sale at Bendigo, mainly with breeding in mind but first winning four races at Warrnambool.
Top seller at that 2016 Bendigo auction was a dog called Lucky Love (Bit Chili x Classy Bling), purchased for $31,000 by Warrnambool couple Walter and Leanne Love.
After Lucky Love went on to win 14 races and all but recoup his purchase price Walter Love purchased three of Sisco Sizzle’s pups – Don’t Argue Love and Twinkle Love having now both won three races.
The Loves were at the track on Thursday, catching up with the Many Winners Syndicate trio and to watch the two littermates win in convincing style.
This was the first time in 10 years that they had been at Tara Raceway, Leanne Love amazed at the transformation of the complex and still fondly remembering that day when their dog, Pure Cream, trained by Jim Williams, won the John Reid Memorial.
Sisco Sizzle has a 12 month old litter by Thirty Talks to follow, the syndicate taking advantage of fellow Koroit greyhound man Gerald McKenna’s generous offer that allowed them to utilise some of his yards to rear their ever-growing number of pups.
“I’ve only got six greyhounds so there was plenty of room for them here,” the affable McKenna said.
“They do their thing and don’t bother me. That suits me fine because, to be honest, I don’t want to be associated with the seagulls.”
Last Thursday was a good day for Koroit trainers, Garry Anders joining Keane with two winners – Fernando Deeds in the Produce Store Maiden (400 m) and later in the day Beaut Deeds giving him his first Tara Raceway double when successful in the Bourne Kennels Stake (400 m).
At 24 kilograms there’s not a lot of Fernando Deeds, also bred and owned by Anders, but the white and brindle daughter of Fernando Bale x Mepunga Jayelle quickly found the front from box two, eventually running out an effortless 7¾ lengths winner in 23.31 seconds.
Having only her fourth race start, Fernando Deeds had trialled at Tara Raceway the previous Saturday morning, Anders saying she had run up to her trial form when clocking one of the better times of the day in her Thursday win.
“She’s a good hard chaser and I thought if she could repeat her trial form then she would be very hard to beat and that’s how it turned out,” he said.
In an earlier litter to Dyna Double One, Mepunga Jayelle, a winner of eight races on Victorian tracks, had produced Dynamite Danger who ran Galactic Panther to a nostril in the 2018 Summer Classic final (512 m) at Tara Raceway before finding his way to New Zealand.
Beaut Deeds, a daughter of Dyna Double One and Mepunga Lana, and also bred and owned by Anders, was returning after a two-month injury break – her last win having been back in November at Geelong.
A maiden winner at Tara Raceway in September 2018, Beaut Deeds settled in second spot behind Pull Shot in Thursday’s Novice stake before railing through to take the lead on the home turn and running out a 1½ lengths winner in 23.34 seconds.
And the double topped off a couple of good days for Anders with Ed Deeds, a younger half-brother to Beaut Deeds, winning over 525 metres at the Meadows the day prior for Lara trainer Tim Britton.