Smith's Rapid Fire Wenty Treble

IT's hard to recall a “faster” winning treble than the trio of wins posted by Forbes trainer Raymond “Jack” Smith's greyhounds at Wentworth Park last Wednesday.
Smith won three successive races within 40 minutes, scoring with Midnight Treat and Irinka Lizzy in heats of the Ladbrokes Back Yourself Challenge before taking out the main 520m race on the card with Little Digger.
For good measure Smith snared the quinella in the feature race as his marvellous sprinter/stayer Big Daddy Bee, a National Derby winner, charged home to finish second.
That completed a successful trip for Smith as his stayer Irinka Leanne was a fast finishing third in an unsuitable 520m event while his long-distance duo Midnight Jayne and Irinka Hamo filled the placings behind Big Butters over 720m.
And with Big Butters carving out the distance in a slashing 42.29sec, Smith's pair recorded their personal best WP 720m times.
Only sour note for Smith, who brought nine greyhounds to Wenty, was the distant fourth by Zagati, a litter sister to Little Digger, in the Ladbrokes Challenge heat won by Black Forge in a blistering 29.74sec.
Zagati tailed off a long last in the early stages before making up some ground to beat three rivals home.
“She had a bad experience in a race at Wentworth Park when she finished up going under the catching pen gate,” Smith said later.
“Unfortunately Zagati has not raced well here ever since.”
Midnight Treat's 520m win was her second over this trip at WP, adding to her pair of wins over the 720m journey at headquarters, with Smith describing her as “a good little toiler.”
While Little Digger, who came from fourth early to score his 15th win in just 29 appearances, clocking a slick 30.07sec, is the star of Smith's talented team, the Forbes trainer has a good opinion of Irinka Lizzy.
Making her WP debut in a 520m Challenge heat, Irinka Lizzy staged a head-and-head tussle for the lead with the more experienced Ben Hur until near the home turn, where she gained the upper hand.
Irinka Lizzy drew away in the straight to win by nearly two lengths in a nippy 30.18sec, running home in a handy 11.92sec.
“She has plenty of early toe and was having only second 520m hit-out tonight,” Smith said later.
“After winning three races over 318m, 400m and 450m, I brought her to WP and trialled her over 520m and she clocked 30.20sec.”
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