Giniotis' Champion Puppy ‘Victa'

SOUTH Australian trainer Michael Giniotis stamped his resurgence at Angle Park last Thursday night when promising youngster Victa Caleb was a dominant all-the-way winner of the Cinderella’s Commercial Cleaning Champion Puppy Final.

SOUTH Australian trainer Michael Giniotis stamped his resurgence at Angle Park last Thursday night when promising youngster Victa Caleb was a dominant all-the-way winner of the Cinderella's Commercial Cleaning Champion Puppy Final.

Giniotis was contemplating retirement and was training just one greyhound before forming an alliance with successful breeder Ron Schadow, owner of Champion Puppy winner Victa Caleb and his third-placed litter brother and kennel mate Victa Ashley.

"I've had a very lean time over the last five years; both health-wise and getting city class dogs," Michael Giniotis explained.

"I was down to one dog and was well and truly heading into retirement. I knew Ron (Schadow) was struggling a bit with big numbers so I asked if he could give me a couple of dogs to make it worthwhile keeping the kennel going and getting out of bed!

"Ron and his wife Joan had two litters at the same time, so they had 18 pups, plus other dogs from previous litters. So, Robyn Mackellar and I each got a litter to pre-train.

"I got the El Grand Senor – Victa Victoria litter and Robyn got the Fabregas – Victa Brooke litter, which includes Victa Louise. Victa Louise won 16 of her first 20 starts, including the St. Leger, but she's found a bit of strife in her last couple.

"Victa Victoria won over all distances, including 700, and Ron's idea was to put a bit of pace in her pups by going to El Grand Senor. Not a lot of El Grand Senors get 500 and this litter have all got box speed and early pace, but I wouldn't say they're overly strong 500 dogs at this stage, although they don't turn two until the middle of August."

After a strong grounding over 400m at Gawler, Victa Caleb and Victa Ashley both stepped up to 500m for the first time in the recent Gawler Produce series, where Victa Caleb ran third in the final to Panhandle Slim and Victa Ashley finished second in the Consolation.

Next up was the heats of the Champion Puppy series and the siblings gave Two Wells-based Giniotis a clean sweep of the two run-offs, with Victa Ashley clocking 29.94 and Victa Caleb 30.19.

Both drew poorly for last Thursday's $7495 to-the-winner final, with Victa Caleb the joint $4.60 favourite from box five alongside Ben Rawlings' Agent Thirteen, while fastest qualifier Victa Ashley was a $6.50 chance from the seven trap.

Victa Caleb came out running and crossed Alicante Bouchet ($8) going into the first turn, and Giniotis was on very good terms with himself when his brothers were running first and second down the back.

Victa Caleb kept finding to defeat outsider Lose Your Blues by one length in 30.10, with Victa Ashley only three-quarters away in third.

"They both won their respective heats but while Victa Ashley went quicker, Victa Caleb was probably more impressive," Giniotis offered.

"Victa Caleb ran a very good 4.40 first sectional in his heat but he couldn't cross Alicante Bouchet. He checked himself and had to work home from third, so it was a very good effort from a dog that's a leader.

"They both drew badly in the final but Victa Ashley drawing seven was far worse, because he has a tendency to head to the rails, and with that much pace underneath him I didn't know how he was going to get across.

"When they were running one/two down the back that was the dream I had the night before! When Lose Your Blues loomed up it was a nightmare scenario but early pace wins races!"

Victa Caleb has now won seven of his 14 starts, while Victa Ashley has won six from 17, while Giniotis also prepares four other littermates; Victa Suzie (5 from 15), Victa Kylie (4 from 15), Victa Polly (3 from 8) and Victa Nash (2 from 10).

"Victa Caleb broke in the quickest but Victa Ashley was running slightly quicker times over 400m," Giniotis said.

"With Victa Caleb being 32kg he always looked the more likely to get 500, whereas Victa Caleb is a big lump of a dog at 35kg and he still has some athletic development in him.

"There's quite of lot of options for them. There's the (Group 3) Derby in September and then the (Group 3) Brian Johnstone later in the year.

"They're never going to run great sectionals coming home but they probably don't have to if they're leading and breaking 30 or going close to it. I'm hoping they can find three to four lengths, which you would imagine they can with maturity."

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