Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Ray Fewings, ostensibly at Tara Raceway last Sunday to call the 11-race card, took the opportunity to also bring down a couple of littermates to race – Wrackmere and Zoltan.
However, in a long and colourful career that includes having raced everything from pigeons to pacers, he was quick to concede that last Sunday’s pair was nowhere near to being in the top bracket of racing greyhounds.
Certainly not of the calibre of Paua To Kapau and Don’t Kid Me that Fewings had won with 12 months previously at Mount Gambier’s Mount Gambier Cup meeting.
But for all that, Wrackmere, after being midfield early worked home well to defeat Midnight Ruby in The Border Watch Stake (400 m) while Zoltan took over the running from Nix Jakit off the back before holding on for a neck win in the Swallow Drive Meats Stake (512 m).
The pair’s breeding is interesting, being by 23-race winner Hallucinate, who collected $252,000 in stakemoney and won the 2004 Melbourne Cup at his last race start.
Their dam, Lotus Blossom, who won 14 races in Queensland and South Australia, is by Made To Size out of Elite Oriental who is the grand-dam of Aston Dee Bee, a winner of $800,000.
Fewings, who is based at Williamstown, also bred the litter after Maxine Wytkin of Willaston had offered him the Hallucinate straw which she had had in her possession for a number of years.
“I took her up on her offer, Maxine later taking a share in Zoltan. A couple of other members of the litter have also won and while there are no champions here I think they still need more time,” he said.
Fewings is next likely to be at Tara Raceway for the Fairthorne Forestry Mount Gambier Cup on Sunday, March 31, this time in his role as Greyhound Racing SA industry representative.