Sooty Keeping Creates History In Flying Amy

CHAMPION Queensland mentor Tony Brett will go down in the annals of history as the first Group 1 winning trainer at The Q with Sooty Keeping a decisive winner of the Flying Amy Classic (520m) on Saturday night.

Trained by Charmaine Roberts and Shayne Stiff before launching her Queensland winter carnival raid, Sooty Keeping, already a two-time group race winner, signalled her Flying Amy claims with a commanding 29.65 heat victory last week.

And in the $150,000-to-the winner finale the daughter of Feral Franky and Rema's Jade never looked back, making full use of her box two draw to drive through and lead from there always appear to have the Group 1 feature safely in her keeping.

"Totally ecstatic," Shayne Stiff said post race.

"To win the first Group 1 at this magnificent complex is a moment Charmaine and I won't forget.

"To be involved in such a great night and win a race like the Flying Amy Classic is hard to put into words.

"And a big thanks to Tony (Brett) for doing such a great job with her while she's been up here.

“She's a special bitch.”

Sooty Keeping's Flying Amy heroics took her record to 21 wins from 36 appearances with her Group 1 triumph sitting beside previous successes in the Group 2 Richmond Oaks and Group 3 Nowra Puppy Classic.

In a thrilling affair, Canya Escape delivered Tony Brett the quinella with a courageous second placed finish while Victorian powerhouse Colac Kid ran a gallant race for third for Jason and Jessica Sharp.

Sooty Keeping landed the race in 29.83 with a length away to the second placegetter.

All roads now lead to Sooty Keeping leading NSW into battle in Thursday night's Origin Greyhound Series Sprint (520m) where she is a walk up start when the fields are announced on Monday.

The race – worth $150,000-to-the-winner – is one of three legs of the series set to be staged at Q2 Parklands on Thursday night.

Saturday night's Flying Amy Classic was a third win in the race for Tony Brett following previous successes with Bogie Ace in 2008 and Velocity Regina in 2010.