Saturday, March 14, 2020
These days, you never know who’s going to bob up at a Tara Raceway time-graded meeting.
Take last Thursday, for instance. Local greyhound and pacing identity Ken Feltus, previously at the track nine months ago (for racing purposes) with Quick Sensation, was back with the same dog to contest the Rock’s Retreat Stake (400 m).
Quick Sensation is the well-bred son of Bombastic Shiraz and Smashing Amy – a granddaughter of the legendary Flying Amy – that Feltus, together with Michael and Norma Juda, picked up off Greyhound-Data back in May 2017 after a provincial win at The Meadows.
At the time it looked to be fair sort of purchase but soon after arriving in Mount Gambier the black dog came down with salmonella poisoning – on the drip for a week and a touch and go proposition, according to Feltus.
Quick Sensation did return to the track, subsequently winning five races for the trio – his last one at Tara Raceway in January 2019 before a shoulder injury sustained in a race in June prompted Feltus to virtually retire the then five-year-old.
“We’d take him for walks but basically he was just free ranging around the back yard, although he gave the impression he still wanted to run,” he said.
“In the end I decided to put him back in work, giving him a month or so of solid galloping as a lead-up to a satisfactory trial which he was required to run because he’d been off the scene for more than six months.
“And when he went around in 23.53 seconds (400 m) I figured he was probably still capable of winning another race or two at Tara Raceway.”
So, by now a rising six-year-old – they’re rarely still going around the track at that age – Quick Sensation lined up last Thursday from box five, quickly finding the front and then holding out Cougar Icon to win by 1¼ lengths in 23.57 seconds.
“I thought he would win if he could cross them,” Feltus said. “That’s how the race panned out and believe me I’m more than happy with the win.”
Meanwhile, brood bitch Lots Of Yap took her number of winners at Tara Raceway this year to 11 – two clear of Bonnie’s Secret on the leading dams’ list – after Lots Of Nitro opened his winning account in the Winningformula.net.au Maiden Stake (400 m).
On the back of three previous unplaced runs at Tara Raceway and Warrnambool, the Ben Boers trained son of Nitro Burst quickly rounded up early leader Serendipity Luck down the back before going on to an eight length win over that greyhound in 23.31 seconds.
Six of the seven May 2018 youngsters have now won, the Portland trainer previously successful with Burst Of Yap and Nitro Yap and believing that last Thursday’s winner could well develop into the best of the litter.
“He showed good early dash when being broken-in and while he had been well beaten at his first three starts all he needed was a clear run to show what he is capable of,” said Boers, who also trained Lots Of Yap, winner of the 2015 Mount Gambier Cup.
It turned out to be a busy day for Boers who that night had Burst Of Yap and Nitro Yap engaged at Warrnambool, the latter running a good third over 450 metres as did litter sister Bay Me, trained by Andy Graham, also of Portland.