Tornado Tears stamped himself as the undisputed king of distance racing after emerging victorious against litter brother Rppin’ Sam in last night’s ‘Battle of the Brothers’ match race at Sandown Park.
As expected, ‘Batman’ began best and crossed Rippin’ Sam to lead through the first turn before opening a 2½ length margin with a lap to go. Rippin’ Sam responded down the back straight to cut the margin to a length, however in a repeat of the recent Crocmedia National Distance Championship final, Tornado Tears railed strongly through the final turn and raced away from his gallant rival, re-establishing the 2½ length margin and stopping the clock in 33.774 seconds.
The time eclipsed Tornado Tears’ previous best of 33.780 set in May’s Speed Star series, and was the fourth fastest time ever recorded over the 595m journey.
“It is a distance that he was more suited to than his brother. It would be interesting to see them over 700m because ‘Jumbo’ has that finishing burst,” said winning handler Peter Riley.
“It’s funny even though there’s just two dogs going around they still can’t get around cleanly. They bumped into each other and cost them maybe a length, length and a half, but very happy with the way they both went around so it’s full steam ahead of the Speed Star on Sunday week.”
Despite Tornado Tears improving his head to head record against his brother to 8-0, Rippin’ Sam’s handler Brendan Pursell was far from disappointed with the run.
“I’m not disappointed. Conditions aren’t that quick, so to run that time… I think it’s just a case of that dog being too good.
“Down the back he was starting to move up and I thought it’s on here, but the other dog was just too good. Jumbo’s go is the 700m now, so he’ll just work at home and head to the 715 Speed Star.”
The exhibition between the sport’s two hottest stayers garnered enormous interest from greyhound racing fans around the world, however a nearby thunderstorm which featured an impressive lightning show almost saw the event postponed.
“Six months ago I would have worried about the dogs in conditions like that but they’ve calmed down a lot. As soon as the lids went down it was business time,” Riley said.
“They’re very professional now. They get weighed first thing race morning and soon as they do they know it’s time and they do what they do.”
The pair’s next assignment is the $190,000 Speed Star match race series at Sandown Park on Sunday 16 September.
Click here for the current Speed Star standings.
And he was pulling away from him over the line. Freak. @sandowndogs
— Jack Mitchell (@JackAttack_19) September 6, 2018
It surprises me that some people keep tipping Sam to knock Tornado off. The latter is just a superior dog, IMO, and the 8-0 head-to-head record supports my argument. https://t.co/j8GrQI9vt6
— Trent Masenhelder (@tmase04) September 6, 2018
Wow that time!!
— Miss L (@Miss_L_Guru) September 6, 2018
Tornado Tears prevails in the ‘Battle of the Brothers’
