Swain joins elite company on the eve of Group 1 tilt

By Isaac Murphy

Over the last month, Fred Swain’s All Hands Off has established herself as the best greyhound going around at Albion Park.

Her latest decimation of Thursday night’s field has put her in the conversation with the best sprinters to ever run the 520 metres clocking 29.49.

The astounding time is the third fastest by a bitch in Albion Park history, behind Black Opium in (29.44) and Sequana (29.48), and just eleven hundredths off dual-Group 1 superstar Sennachie’s track record (29.38).

Swain’s celebrations were muted though, as he prepares himself for the eight-hour drive from his Northern Rivers property to Wentworth Park for next week’s Group 1 Golden Easter Egg heats, which she couldn’t be more ready for.

“She’s been jumping well but hasn’t been able to lead a field until tonight, the timing couldn’t be better as she’ll be full of confidence for the Golden Easter Egg heats next start,” Swain said.

“It’s a notch on her belt to run near track record time, but we’re in the business of trying to win the big one and she’ll need to bring that form next week.

“The idea was to get her back for a good month of racing and Albion Park has been the perfect place to do that against some quality dogs, it’s been the best preparation we could hope for.”

It isn’t All Hands Off’s first rodeo at Wentworth Park, and Swain is hoping for a bit more luck second time around.

“The box draws have been kind to us up here and we’ll be sweating on another inside draw next week, she goes well there but we know from experience an outside box is going to be tough,” Swain said.

“She was flying when she was down there for the Million Dollar Chase semi last year but drew wide on the track and just got flattened at the first turn.

“We’ll take the cards we’re dealt though and go down knowing her best is good enough to win a Group 1 race.”

Burnt Ends revels over the staying trip

Burnt Ends looked a special in his Fifth Grade 700-metre race, after Jeff Ahern’s dog was placed behind the country’s best earlier this year and has now strung back-to-back wins together over the distance.

Kennel representative Donna Pezet was full of praise for the dog.

“He’s been up a long time and because it’s his first campaign over the 700 metres we thought we’d steer clear last week and were rapt to have a Fifth Grade race tonight,” Pezet said.

“We were pretty confident he’d come here and handle business by going straight to the front, he’s fit as a fiddle and isn’t getting too tired late.

“Really pleased to see him get down to 41.82, that’s very similar to what he ran when just missing out in the Gold Cup.”

Pezet said the kennel was looking to strike while the iron was hot, with a jump to Group company up next.

“While he’s in form I think we’ll bite the bullet and take him to Wentworth Park for the Association Cup in a fortnight’s time,” she said.

“Tonight was a bit of an audition to still see if he was going well and he’s passed with flying colours.

“He’s been to Wentworth Park over the sprint trip before and handled the track well, we’ll give him a nice light week before he gets another chance to measure up against those classy stayers.”

Terror Turtle eats up the extra ground

Rob Essex’s bitch Terror Turtle doesn’t win out of turn but it’s spectacular when she does, and her strong run home was on full display in the Fifth Grade 600-metre final, with kennel representative Anita Wells happy to have her up over more ground.

“She’s very set in the way she races; she wants to fence at all costs and often that’s her undoing, but she somehow found a run there on the home turn,” Wells said.

“That’s her second 600-metre win, she led all the way in 35.05 on debut from box one against a weaker field, it was a whole lot tougher tonight, but she got there.

“She’s still got a couple of grades over the middle-distance before she hits Open company, that’s when we’ll get her to the 700, which may suit her even better.”

Paw It On claims a thrilling finish

Craig Chandler’s Paw It On produced a stirring win in his Fifth Grade race.

The dog looked destined to finish midfield at the home turn after working overtime from box eight, but the will to win kicked in as he nailed Galway Johann on the line.

“He’s run quicker time than that (30.21) but I don’t think I’ve seen a better win; he always runs home strong, but he was a long way off the leaders on the home turn and had no right to poke his head out,” Chandler said.

“It’s good to see him get that winning feeling back, he’s been up in Fourth Grade where he really needs everything to go his way to figure.

“We go straight back to Fourth Grade now, but off an inside box he can get down around 29.8 here, fingers crossed we get lucky and he can put a few together.”

The dog was initially known for some searing times over the short course, but the Albion Park 500-metre start was always the goal.

“The plan was to always get him to be a 500-metre dog, I just took my time with him over the 288 and 431 at Ipswich because he had speed and got some good experience before tackling Albion,” Chandler said.

“He probably surprised me a little how quickly he took to the place, I thought it would take him a while to run out a strong tip but he came to hand quickly.

“He’s got a good race sense about him; we saw a bit of that tonight not crashing into them from box eight and he wasn’t afraid to take that gap in the straight.”

Luck not required for Ha Ha

Greyhounds don’t come much more diminutive than Noel Murdoch’s Ha Ha Lucky, however a lot of that weight comes in the form of her heart.

The bitch defied her Fifth Grade field to the delight of kennel representative Shari Murdoch.

“She makes you feel like a proud parent this little one, she’s only 20 kilos going up against dogs almost twice her size and she never gives an inch,” Murdoch said.

“She’s won most of her races over the shorter trips here, that’s only her second 500-metre win, she’s been swallowed up late by Sequana a couple of times but she wasn’t having it tonight.

“They had every chance to get to her tonight and she just kept on finding, she’s a real kennel favourite and to get one on a Thursday with her is fantastic.”