Racing Around: Fanta Bale Now A Mum!

We take a look at some of the things going on in greyhound racing, led by the news that champion bitch Fanta Bale is now a mum, whelping seven pups to Dyna Villa.

Racing Royalty Arrives: Fanta Bale Now A Mum

Champion race bitch Fanta Bale is now a mum.

The winner of a staggering nine group 1 races for trainer Rob Britton throughout her glorious racing career, Fanta Bale whelped a litter of seven pups to Melbourne Cup winner Dyna Villa on Easter Monday, much to the delight of the Wheeler family and greyhound racing fans in general.

We might be getting well ahead of ourselves, but one can't almost wait until they grace the tracks for the first time. Following their progress will be very interesting indeed – talk about a hard act to follow!



Gold Rush Kicks Off Big 24 Hours

Debbie Coleman and partner Rob Camilleri capped off a whirlwind 24 hours when claiming two heats of the Group 3 Ladbrokes Nowra Puppy Classic (520m) on Monday afternoon.

Fresh off landing the Bendigo Gold Rush Maiden Final (425m) on Sunday with progressive youngster Zipping Magda, the Lara duo were to the fore at Nowra, landing victory with fastest qualifier Zipping Norton, along with exciting recent kennel acquisition Big Artie Banner.

Zipping Norton, a sizzling 29.67 heat victor, is a son of Barcia Bale and Tricky Rose, a litter brother to Zipping Magda, winner of Sunday's Gold Rush finale at Bendigo in a best of meeting 23.76, gunning down leader Extra Speed to score by a half-length.

While Zipping Norton set the time-standard at Nowra on Monday, Big Artie Banner was impressive in his own right running 30.15, while Charlow posted 30.01 in the opening heat for Ray Webster.

Dissociative – trained by Coleman's daughter Kayla-jane – won his heat in 30.04, the same time recorded by Nurragi for Denice Warren, the son of Fabregas making it nine wins from 15 starts winning heat four.

Semi-finals will be run and won at the Pinebowl next Monday, leading into the following week's $25,000 to-the-winner final.

Rice Causes Grafton Boil Over

Group 1 winning trainer Trevor Rice deserves all the plaudits that come his way after guiding the talented, yet enigmatic, Sadeeki to victory at Grafton on Monday night.

Going around at a whopping $101.00 on fixed odds, the former NZ-based galloper was having his fifth start for Rice, doing everything right in the run to score by three-quarters of a length in 23.40 for the 407m.

Armed with loads of ability – the son of Barcia Bale strung together a handful of victories early on in his New Zealand campaign before returning to Australian shores after his form had tapered off. If he maintains the zest for racing he demonstrated on Easter Monday, the talented conveyance has plenty more wins in store.

For the record, Rice claimed group 1 glory with My Boy Brodie in the Gold Cup (710m) at Albion Park back in 2016.

As for the heading, we just had to do it!

Mackay to Adopt Steady Approach With Zipping Garth

Jason Mackay, winner of Saturday night's Golden Easter Egg with Zipping Bailey, will take the soft approach with new kid on the block Zipping Garth, a mind-boggling 30.09 Richmond winner last Wednesday.

"He's still learning so I want to build up his confidence where I can," Mackay told the Recorder.

"I'll nominate him for The Gardens on Saturday night – I won't be aiming to high with him for now – he's still very young and all legs – he's got a lot to learn."

One gets the feeling Mackay believes The Gardens 515m track record is in reach for the son of Zulu Zeus, the current time-standard of 29.16 held by Mackay's Golden Easter Egg winner Zipping Bailey.

 

 

Latest News Articles