Rocky Bale upstaged his more fancied kennelmate Xylia Allen to claim the $36,000 Group 3 Lizrene at Sandown Park tonight.
While the race was billed as a battle between last-start Group 1 winner Sweet It Is and Sandown Greyhound Of The Year Xylia Allen, it was the underrated Rocky Bale (right) that prevailed to claim the $25,000 first prize.
Sisco Rage ($18) was the best to begin and was stalked through the first turn by Xylia Allen ($2.10). The pair cleared away from Rocky Bale ($5.10) and Hala Belle ($8.60), with Sweet It Is ($3.50) dropping out to last passing the finishing post the first time.
Xylia Allen finally claimed the early leader as the pair left the back straight, however by that time Rocky Bale had begun to unleash a mighty run, sweeping by the four time Group race winner to win in 41.73 seconds.
Sweet It is – still 15 lengths away from the coming off the back straight – rattled home for second 3.75 lengths away, while Xylia Allen hung on for third.
Rocky Bale – whose mother Amity Bale reached four Group finals at Sandown Park and was named the club’s 2009 Greyhound Of The Year – had been touted by his Jenny Hunt kennel representatives as a genuine contender for this month’s $250,000 Group 1 RSN Sandown Cup, and his win tonight confirmed his credentials as one of Australia’s best emerging stayers.
Earlier in the night, Hooksy confirmed his status as one of the country’s most exciting greyhounds with a brilliant win in the Listed Bill Collins Memorial.
Sent to the boxes a $1.60 favourite, the Tanya Auld trained superstar began only fairly but mustered speed quickly, sweeping around early leader Bazza’s Gift to assume control of the race and stop the clock in a slick 29.26 seconds.
It was Hooksy’s second black type win in as many starts, and the $15,000 first prize took his career earnings to $76,578. At just 26 months of age, Hoosky has won 13 of his 19 career starts (has been unplaced on just one occasion), including all four starts at Sandown Park. Remarkably, his average winning time at Sandown Park is 29.22 seconds with an average winning margin of 7.25 lengths.
Hoosky’s next assignment will be the $145,000 Group 2 Harrison-Dawson at Sandown Park, the heats of which will be run at Sandown Park next Thursday night.
The consistent Musquin Bale finally broke through for his first feature win, holding off a gallant Campaspe Will in the Group 3 Bert Bryant Memorial.
Box 6 proven no problem for the Andrea Dailly trained chaser, springing to the early lead and holding on gamely in a thrilling duel to the line.
A stunning finishing burst saw Lady Toy claim the night’s opening feature, the GRV VicBreeders maiden final.
Trained by Norma Gost in Little River, it took nine starts for Lady Toy to break her maiden status, but has now won three in row, showing a dazzling turn of foot in each start and stamping herself as a greyhound to watch when she starts over more ground.
Tonight was the first of four bigh weeks of greyhound racing at Sandown Park, featuring eight black type races and over $800,000 in prize money.
This Thursday sees the heats of the Sapphire Crown (females) and Harrison-Dawson (males), with both $145,000 finals to be run the following week. The Carnival culminates with the world’s richest staying race, the $250,000 Group 1 RSN Sandown Cup on Thursday 22 May.
