Opawa Superstar brought up another Group 1 victory in the 2023 Rose & Thistle South Island Champs. Photo credit: Dave Robbie
Opawa Superstar brought up another Group 1 victory in the 2023 Rose & Thistle South Island Champs. Photo credit: Dave Robbie
By Peter Fenemor
For a 90-minute period, the powerful local conditioners Dave and Jean Fahey absolutely dominated Addington Raceway during the Christchurch GRC-hosted premier meeting last Thursday evening.
Four feature race finals, including three Group races, were contested between 5.59pm and 6.39pm, with the Fahey kennels stylishly winning all four races. Bold pace-making tactics were used to annex all of the race wins.
2023 Rose & Thistle South Island Champs
The pinnacle event was the Group 1 $30,000 South Island Champs, which saw the multiple Group race winner Opawa Superstar put the result beyond reach of his classy rivals when he pinged away from the 520m five trap.
The Allan Davidson and Opawa Racing Limited-owned son of Fernando Bale and Opawa Tab set up a frenetic pace, leaving his rivals to scrap over the minor portions of the stake. He was credited with a slippery 29.88 for his effortless win.
The Lisa Cole-prepared pair of greyhounds, Federal Infrared and Blazin’ Master, led the pursuing pack, and it was Blazin’ Master who was left to chase home the freewheeling pacemaker, finishing 1.75 lengths astern.
Charging home late to nail third another four lengths behind was Quintessa Bale for Craig Roberts, who cut back Federal Infrared for that placing by a half-length.
“Opawa Superstar came out running and I was reasonably confident that he wasn’t going to get caught,” said Dave Fahey about the couple’s 10th South Island Champs training success.
When asked about the future plans for the star greyhound, whose 33rd career victory pushed his stake earning through the $300,000 barrier, now standing at $305,573 from his 54 races, Fahey said, “Probably the New Zealand Cup (current title holder). I’m not sure about the Nationals, I need to speak to the owners about that.”
The win brought up the 300th training win for the Faheys during the current season. It was the Faheys’ 123rd Group race training victory and their 61st at Group 1 level.
2023 Ray Adcock Memorial Distance
Centurion took out the Ray Adcock Memorial Distance. Photo credit: Dave Robbie.
This Group 2 732m staying event recognises the massive input that the doyen of New Zealand greyhound conditioners Ray Adcock delivered over numerous decades.
The $20,000 race was billed as a potential two-dog shoot-out between the classy stayers Goldstar Carlito and Know Keeper, however, it was the Dave and Jean Fahey-trained Centurion who immediately thrusted his paws to the forefront.
He broke away quickly from the two-trap to defy his rivals to run him down – they couldn’t! The son of Dyna Double One and Andrea was never seriously challenged throughout the event, stopping the clock after 43.37 seconds of hard-out chasing.
Last year’s winner of this event, Know Keeper, who had settled in the midfield, brought his race home strongly 3.5 lengths behind the pacemaker to claim second for his mentor Garry Cleeve.
The Riley Evans-trained race favourite Goldstar Carlito made a mistake at trap rise when exiting from trap-one. He was in catch-up mode from there, gradually picking his way through traffic to charge home for his third placing, another half-length behind.
Centurion, who has had recent tail issues, has been a consistent stayer for a long time and the 19th Hole Syndicate-owned stayer thoroughly deserved his break-through Group race victory. His win took his career total to 14 wins and 21 minor placings from his 55 raceday outings, amounting to $83,987 in stake earnings.
“He has turned the corner since his tail issues – he is a different dog now. His last two-races have been super. When I saw Centurion in front early and Goldstar Carlito missing the start and caught in traffic, I thought then that Centurion would be hard to run down,” advised Dave Fahey, who said the kennel will keep their stayer ticking over.
“I consider it a real honour to train the winner of Ray’s race. He loved training and racing stayers,” added Fahey about the event honouring the inaugural human inductee into the GRNZ Hall of Fame.
Strong Support Races
Outside of the Group and Feature race finals, eight other high-stake races were contested throughout Thursday’s Addington premier meeting.
The evening started with Riley Evans presenting Goldstar Remi to deliver his bold pace-making 30.32 C2 520m win in the Fitz Sports Bar 2 Feature event.
It was a premier meeting training success for Tayla Duley, when she applied the finishing touches to her charge Nighthawk Zeus who strode to her Active Electrical Christchurch Feature 17.33 C3 295m victory. It was her second training success, coming just nine days after she presented the same greyhound for her first training victory.
No premier meeting, anywhere in the country, can be completed without the nation’s leading conditioner Lisa Cole preparing winners. This meeting was no different.
Big Time Blazer blazed around the Addington circuit to effortlessly win her Real Pet Foods Rolleston Feature C1/5 520m assignment in 30.37.
Seven races later, Cole produced the current Auckland Cup title holder Space Boy to dictate the pace to his rivals when delivering his tidy 30.15 win in the Selwyn-Rakaia Vet Services Feature C4/5 520m win.
Those two wins, plus another seven winners during Friday’s Hatrick meeting, saw the Cole kennels completing the week with 800 training victories for the current season.
Sydney Cleeve prepared her first premier meeting winner, with her promising chaser Great Potential stylishly taking out the Garrard’s Horse And Hound Feature C3 520m event in 30.50.
Local conditioner Craig Roberts joined the winner’s circle with his stayer Rohan Bale clearing out to nail his strong 38.26 in the Red Snapper Seafoods Sumner Feature over the 645m staying journey.
Roberts went on to produce a pair of sprinters to take out the honours in the final two 295m sprints on the card. Levi Bale relished starting from the eight-trap, when he slipped through his dash in a swift 17.02, winning The Home Kill Guys Feature C5 sprint.
Completing the meeting for Roberts was Todling Bale, who claimed his third Addington win since he crossed the Tasman when prevailing in the Balcairn Stock Foods & Pet Supplies Ltd Feature C4 295m dash in 17.33.
