Greyhounds ready to put on a show

The wider Ipswich public will get a chance to be up close and personal with some of the Club’s quickest dogs, with the Racing Greyhound Sweepstakes and other fun activities at the Ipswich Show, kicking off May 14.

The club will have a stall up all three days showcasing just what the sport has to offer, but the most exciting part of the weekend is undoubtedly the Sweepstakes to be held at midday on Saturday, May 15 on the podium in front of the grandstand.

The initiative offers prizemoney, petting stations, sample bags and a team of dedicated volunteers ready to help you with anything you need to know.

The Ipswich Club stall will be set up all three days of the Show, so anyone interested in getting to know more about the fastest dogs on the planet, make sure to drop in and say hello.

Byers sets the bar high

It’s widely known that the Pauline Byers kennel is a powerhouse at the Ipswich Greyhound Club, but the longevity and sustained success never ceases to amaze, most recently on display when they booked not one but two quinellas at last Tuesday’s meet.

In an uncanny coincidence, both quinellas read seven the winner and five the runner-up, an unusual piece of symmetry on a good day out.

It started early in race one where Spring Lilli broke her maiden at start nine, defying kennel mate Spring Kayce who’s never missed the money in three starts and looks a black booker for the near future.

The fun continued in race eight when in Best 8 company, Spring Cleo upset 2020 Greyhound of the Year Spring Rock running a slick 25.12 - with a further six lengths back to third.

All four greyhounds were products of the Board Syndicate, who continue to enjoy a fruitful relationship with the Byers kennel rattling off winner after winner.

With limited resources, the kennel often has to call on those available on the day for catching duties; on Tuesday it was Jordan and Cooper Topping who put their hands up to help out and catch the quartet.

Nando Dreamer nabs another one at Ipswich

Daniel Lee’s Nando Dreamer has not slowed down to smell the roses after his stirring Ipswich Young Guns win.

Instead, the dog has gone right back to winning ways, with Tuesday’s effort in his Fifth Grade final making it four from four at the track.

Punters who took the $1.30 early would have been relatively happy with the run to the post as the favourite looked to hold the inside from box one, but shorty after being crossed by Double Malt, was checked badly by Shot Of Bourbon dropping five lengths arears around the first turn.

He lost all his momentum and had to regain his balance before setting off after them down the back.

The dog was airborne around the corner, pulling three-wide to run away with a relatively soft 30.8-second win.

It’s the mark of a good dog to find a way when the stars don’t exactly align, and Nando Dreamer was able to do just that.

Canaveral cannons away with his maiden

The Wayne Scott-trained Canaveral hadn’t been seen on the racetrack for almost two months since finishing a close third in the Group 3 Vince Curry Final.

Scott was left rueing a missed opportunity that night when his charge was almost able to hold out eventual winner Rumble Master at the first turn, only to take a bump and lose a couple of lengths.

The son of Fernando Bale returned to the track last Saturday night looking to break his maiden status at start five and did just that, on this occasion using box one to full effect over the 431 metres, railing up and running away in 25.15 seconds.

It was an impressive fresh performance for a dog who looks like he’ll definitely get over more ground in the future, with the 25.15 run well above your average maiden grade.

Watch him as he steps back up to the 500.

Johnstone Surrounds Himself with Talent

It was a hell of a Saturday night for leading trainer Darren Johnstone whose first order of business was to rug up Oxley Surround for her 500-metre Novice, a race she looked a good chance in after finishing behind the talented Miss Neisha last start.

Johnstone’s bitch did as many expected, pinging the lids and going straight to the front with the red rug.

They were hot on her tail down the back, but she drew clear in the home running putting up five lengths on them.

The trainer is on record as saying he is hoping the bitch can turn into his next gun young sprinter and with five starts and two wins to her name at just 23 months what’s stopping her?

Before a recent spell, she ran 30.6 at Ipswich over the 500 metres and looks like she’s only going to improve on that if she’s able to string a few runs together this preparation.

That was leg one complete for Johnstone; leg two was rushing home to see his star stayer Maggie Moo Moo run in the Group 1 Association Cup heats at Wentworth Park.

To the trainers dismay, he didn’t make it home in time but soon released she’d qualified for this week’s Final and the messages of support flooded in.

Johnstone admitted it was a highly emotional moment having his own line make a Group 1 final.

Extra Malt Allows Halls to Exhale

The Group 3 Ipswich Auction hopefuls have been cut from 32 to 16, who make up this weekend’s semi-finals.

There were some serious performances in week one of the series, with three hot favourites and one roughie putting their names up for consideration, with the first four from each semi-final going through.

The Leanne Hall-trained Extra Malt is a well-deserved favourite for the Series, going up $1.33 for last Saturday’s heat which looked generous until she found herself bumped back to the tail of the field from a box five draw.

Hall had previously flagged concerns of her winning from behind, so easy had her initial victories been.

She needn’t worry, as the chaser charged past runner picking up Renald Attard’s Red Fire Ball right on the wire.

The time was nothing special given the drama (30.73), but if the bitch can get her box manners right, her run home is unmatched.

One dog who’s going to throw down the gauntlet to her is Sprint Series winner Little Byrnes ,who lit up the track winning in a stunning 30.24 seconds jet propelled out from box eight.

Trainer and owner John Catton will be hoping he can keep pinging the lids, because come finals time if he meets Extra Malt, he’d likely need a handy break.

Diamond Tina emerged from the hopefuls to put her name up with the big guns for Scott Dionysius, the bitch too good for the highly-rated Miss Neisha who had every opportunity to run the leader down but couldn’t made a dent.

Jason Schmidt’s winning machine Flaming Rose made it win number 14 from just 18 starts.

The bitch has limited experience over the journey but has shown flashes, and her winning record tells you she knows how to find her way to the front.