Xylia Allen has been named the 2013 Sandown Greyhound of the Year.
The daughter of Turanza Bale and Tayah Bale finished the year with two Group race wins and over $160,500 from just five starts at Sandown Park in 2013, including two of the most stunning feature race wins seen at the venue.
Xylia Allen won twice in seven starts at Sandown Park in 2012, culminating in reaching the Group 2 Macro Meats Laurels final in December. However by the time she returned to the View Road circuit in May she had risen to become one of the most talked about chasers in the country.
She qualified for five Group finals and broke three track records in the first four months of 2013, including a stunning track record win in the Group 2 Launceston Cup, and entered the Group 1 Macro Meats Sapphire Crown series as a warm favourite.
Qualifying for the final after a solid heat win, Xylia Allen was amazingly rated a $5.20 chance in Australia’s richest race for females greyhounds. What was to follow was one of the most remarkable wins seen on a greyhound track.
In torrential rain, Xylia Allen missed the start from box six and was the widest runner through the first turn. She entered the back straight six lengths adrift of the leader, however showing the tenacity and race smarts that has made her a crowd favourite, Xylia Allen weaved her way through the stellar field to unleash a devastating finishing burst and claim the $100,000 first prize.
“Her run home is sensational, probably the best in Australia,” said handler Joe Briffa on the night.
“When she was about three or four lengths off Punch One Out I thought she’d come right into it, but one of the other dogs clipped her heels and put off stride. I thought ‘uh oh’ but she’s got one of the best finishes in the business.”
The run would later be crowned the Australian Greyhound Racing Association ‘Run Of The Year’ for 2012/13.
Xylia Allen sensationally wins the Group 1 Macro Meats Sapphire Crown
Six months later, Xylia Allen was selected to run in Australia’s speed championship, the four-dog $50,000 winner-takes-all Macro Meats Shootout.
Opening at the luxury odds of $5.50, Xylia Allen was sensationally backed into $2.50 favouritism and ran accordingly, defying her normal drop out and run home racing style to lead all of the way. Her amazing first split of 4.97 helped set up a race record 29.07 seconds, and in doing so became the first female in the race’s 15 year history to claim the event.
“When we first trialled her at Geelong her (then) trainer Graeme Bate said ‘we’ve got something special here.’ You look at the sectionals she can run – she’s just unbelievable,” said Briffa.
Unfortunately for connections she was unable to replicate that early speed in the following week’s TAB Melbourne Cup heats, finishing second behind Kiss Me Ketut, and then finished fifth in the Listed Macro Meats Cup Night Sprint.
Bred by Paul Wheeler and raced by wife Janice, Xylia Allen was trained by Graeme Bate before being transferred to Jenny Hunt in October. Overall in 2013, Xylia Allen made 40 starts for a 16-7-8 record and qualifying for a remarkable 15 Group finals, winning five and being placed in six more. Overall, her records (as of 31/12/13) stands at 51 starts 21-10-8 and $463,885 in prizemoney.
The Sandown Greyhound of the Year is decided by a vote of the Sandown Directorate, CEO and Racing Manager and considers only the performances of each greyhound in 2013. Other greyhounds considered for the award were Black Magic Opal, Irma Bale, Surf Mail and Tomac Bale.
