“Xtreme Rush went straight to the front from box four, with the other first starter Wilbur Deeds doing the chasing, then working home well to be beaten 2½ lengths and looking a coming winner for Koroit owner-trainer Garry Anders.”
So reads a report on the Tara Raceway meeting of October 29, 2017. Now, after a further 127 starts, Wilbur Deeds has won 21 races and run 49 minor placings for prizemoney $10 short of $65,000.
Bred by Anders, the son of Oaks Road x Mepunga Lana is now a rising six-year-old and bounced back to win city races after a hock injury kept him off the scene for three months way back in 2018.
Back at Tara Raceway for last week’s Tara Raceway time-graded meeting, Wilbur Deeds took on a tidy field in the 400 metres Williams Crane Hire Stake for 5+ wins greyhounds.
And the August 2015 whelping was equal to the task, quickly taking the lead off Another Pick before holding out Queue The Music for a win in a best of day 23.03 seconds.
Then the veteran chaser backed up again on Sunday in the South Eastern Hotel Stake (400 m), shrugging off a determined Saint Charlotte turning for home before running out a three-quarters of a length winner in 23.08 seconds.
Anders is now hoping the Masters events, programmed to be run on Sundays over 305 metres for greyhounds 3¾ years and older, will take off at Tara Raceway.
With priority going the way of the oldest greyhounds nominated, the wonderfully durable Wilbur Deeds certainly won’t have any trouble in gaining a start.
At the other end of the scale, as far as back-to-back winners were concerned, was Chanko Girl who went into the time-graded meeting’s Produce Store Maiden Stake (400 m) with six unplaced runs to her name.
Win, lose or draw, though, that was about to change after scratchings reduced the field to three. In fact, Chanko Girl never looked like losing when leading all the way for a 1¾ lengths win over Proud Molly in 23.42 seconds.
The daughter of Lightning Frank and former smart bitch Deano’s Gadget was the first win for the year for Ararat father and son team Doug and Paul Hammerstein who purchased her in early January for $800.
The pair was then able to back up Chanko Girl again at Sunday’s meeting after she was graded into the Progreyhoundtips.com Stake, a maiden/one win event over 400 metres.
And once again the black bitch was able to lead all the way, this time defeating Capital Kay by 1¼ lengths in the same time as Thursday’s win.
Speaking after Chanko Girl’s second win in the space of three days, Paul Hammerstein, a Tara Raceway regular, said that while things were relatively quiet at the moment the pair had plenty of pups to come later in the year.