Trainer Luckie Karabitsakos recorded his first ever city win last night at Sandown Park with youngster on the rise Bella Rico.
Bella Rico sprung out of box two to lead clearly first time past the post – she showed no signs of weakening and went on to win convincingly by 3 lengths in 29.92
“I was very happy with the run – she jumped straight to the front and did a great job,” said Karabitsakos.
It was only last month Bella Rico won a tier 3 maiden race at Warragul, last night’s win being just her fifth career start.
“Luckily she was eligible to compete in a tier 3 maiden – she’s a fast dog but she just needed some confidence to be able to put it all together in a field.
“After that I took her to Traralgon where she ran 3rd in what I thought was a fair run. I gave her a couple of trials around Sandown which she went well – she did the job for me last night.
Karabitsakos said he will keep Bella Rico racing at the metropolitan tracks and is adamant there is still plenty of improvement to come.
“There’s definitely a lot of improvement left in her – I hope she can eventually get her time down to around 29.60. I’ll keep her running at city tracks over 500m for the time being.”
The Pearcedale trainer has only trained greyhounds for the last 18 months, following the footsteps of his late father.
“My father trained greyhounds for 40 years – sadly he passed away a couple of years ago. I trained and took care of a greyhound he had, and before I knew it I had the bug.”
Click here for all of last night’s results.
