Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Horsham trainer Jeff Guy has confirmed that his rising 4½-year-old chaser Paraphernalia will tackle next month’s Metal Worx Iron Dog at Tara Raceway.
Paraphernalia won last year’s three-distance series after running fourth in the 600 metre first round behind Bekim Lucy’s before accumulating sufficient points to reach the final when defeating Hit The Runway in the 400 metre round, running a quick 22.83 seconds. He then defeated that greyhound again in the final 512 metre round.
The son of Big Daddy Cool and Scrappy Coco was back in winning form at Tara Raceway last Sunday when finishing powerfully in the Laser Electrical Open Stake (400 m) to run down Greyhound of the Year contender Oh No Beta in a time of 23.33 seconds.
For Paraphernalia it was his 120th start and brought up his 30th win in what has been a wonderful career for owner Chris Johnson and Guy who later said that the fawn dog, after an unplaced run at Horsham on Tuesday, was likely to finish his racing career at Tara Raceway.
“He’s starting to struggle at his home track now,” Guy said. “So I’m happy to race him at Mount Gambier while he’s still competitive there and have another crack at the Iron Dog series.
“Paraphernalia’s got a terrific record at Tara Raceway, having won over three distances, along with being a former 600 metre record holder twice. He’s also the only dog this year to have reached the finals of both the Mount Gambier Cup and the Anniversary Cup.”
Paraphernalia has drawn box four in Sunday’s Trackside Meats Open Stake, a race that has attracted a fair sort of field including last month’s Anniversary Cup winner Ben Nevis and current Greyhound of the Year leader Chilly Kiss.
Meanwhile, the JB Irrigation Open Stake (600 m) will be one of Sunday’s highlights with the Tracie Price trained Rockoon returning to Tara Raceway after contesting the Darwin Cup.
This will be his first time back at the track since running a 29.28 seconds 512 metre track record on July 1, a fortnight after he had run a near-record 34.86 seconds when winning by 11 lengths over 600 metres.
The race also includes Trent Blacker’s Aeroplane Mo, successful in last month’s Eric Lewis Memorial (600 m) and last week’s 600 metre winner Cryer’s Plugger, trained by Tom Cryer.