By Pat McLeod
Dolly Dutton lived up to her kennel name ‘Dollars’ by cashing in on the $30,000-to-the-winner Group 3 Brisbane Young Guns Final at Albion Park on Thursday night.
“I knew she had a big race in her somewhere along the line, but I didn't know whether that would come early or later in her career,” said owner Sarah Monaghan, who with husband Andrew own a busy rearing and training facility near Lismore in northern New South Wales.
“She (Dolly Dutton) has always had a stack of ability, but she is only a baby and is still learning what this is all about.”
The Barcia Bale - Precious Sal chaser missed the kick slightly in the Final, which was brim-full of talent. However, she held her position on the rail and emerged from the first bend at ‘The Creek’ parked in behind Travis Elson’s Bear’s Bullet.
It was clear through the back straight that this version of the Young Guns would be decided by these two youngsters.
Bear’s Bullet led into the home straight, but ‘Dollars’ finished stronger, hitting the line two and a half lengths clear, with John Catton’s Locked On Scotch finishing third.
The winning time was 30.04 seconds. Dolly Dutton started from the one box as $2.50 favourite, however there was $12 on offer in early betting.
Sarah said the win ‘is special’ because she and Andrew had ‘been with Dolly from the start’ – whelping, owning, rearing and now training.
“We whelped this litter,” she said. “We have whelped all of Precious Sal’s litters. (Owner) Margaret (Dwyer) is one of our longest clients.
“We picked her out at about nine weeks and called her ‘Dollars’, because we had never spent that much ($7000) on a pup before.”
The promising speedster hit an early-career hiccup when, after four wins from her first five starts, a fall in the heats of the Queensland Futurity at Albion Park resulted in a six-week lay-off.
Dolly Dutton then came back through the Ipswich auction series, making the Final of the 520 metre edition but ‘just did everything wrong’, according to Sarah, and finished sixth.