January 31 marked the halfway point of the 2016/17 racing season. The first six months of the season saw numerous classy performances being produced by both canine and human participants.
Pictured: Swimming Goat who at the end of January has won 21 races for the current season.
Here’s a look at the various Greyhound of the Year points categories following six months of competition. Unsurprisingly the most races won was by the slippery sprinter Swimming Goat for Calum Weir. He prevailed in 21 of his 23 Addington 295m sprints. Sitting second to him was Wheelchair Norm for John McInerney who won 15 races, while the Dave and Jean Fahey prepared American Warrior was successful on 14 occasions.
The three greyhounds who won the most races up to January 31 was (from left) Swimming Goat, Wheelchair Norm and American Warrior, who was also the highest stake earner over the first six months of the season
Winning the nations’ richest greyhound race, the $100,000 Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup, saw American Warrior leading the way on stake money won, having annexed $95,505. Karen Walsh mentored greyhounds fill the next two positions with the dual Group 1 winner Thrilling Boris having won $65,250 , while his consistent kennelmate Timmy Trumpet sat in third having accumulated $48,188.
Obviously it is Swimming Goat who has built a commanding points lead in the Sprinter of the Year category. He held a 23 point buffer over Wheelchair Norm with 95 points as opposed to Norm’s 72. Subic Bay, from the Lisa Ahern kennels with 65 points was next in line.
The Middle Distance section saw Thrilling Boris setting the pace on 71 points. His kennelmate Timmy Trumpet had scored 63 points, while American Warrior reached the season halfway point with 59.
A strong start to the season has enabled the Ray Adcock prepared Can’t Catch Tim to build a comfortable margin in the Stayer of the Year section. He reached January 31 with 45 points, with the winner of this category over the last two seasons Shandell next after accumulating 29 points for Arch Lawrence. Next in line was Know Worth for Gary Cleeve on 19 points.
Thrilling Boris was making all the play in front in the race for the New Zealand Bred Greyhound of the Year section. He had amassed 71 points with the Ahern trained pair of sprinters Allegro Gun and Allegro Lass being second equal with 63 points.
The leading Middle Distance and NZ Bred greyhound was Thrilling Boris, while Can’t Catch Tim led last year’s winner Shandell (right) in the Stayer of the Year category at the halfway point of the season
The progeny of Hi Allegro sees this former sharp sprinter sitting on top of the Dam of the Year section. Eight individual winners had won 58 races for her. Miss Idol has been a long time consistent producer and her tally stood at 45 wins from the 14 greyhounds who had won races for her. Thrilling Ella is a new addition to the table with eight of her progeny winning 43 races between them.
As usual Australian based sires dominate the Sire of the Year table. Magic Sprite has sired 90 separate winners by the end of January and between them they had accounted for 240 race wins. Collision was represented by 60 race winners, with an overall total of 162 race victories. Spring Gun was ten wins further back after being represented by 39 winners. It is the leading New Zealand based sire who is recognized as the actual winner of this award and it was last season’s leading NZ based sire Sergio who again was leading. His 35 winners had combined to win 109 races.
Allegro Lass has been a consistent winner for her mum Hifi Allegro while Belcroft Banker has been a contributor for his sire Magic Sprite. Sergio who is the leading NZ Based Sire
Blasting through the 300 training win barrier during January was Lisa Ahern as she maintained a hot pace to lead the Trainers’ Premiership table. She reached the season’s halfway stage having been required to salute the judge on 322 occasions ($615,888 in stake winnings). John McInerney was leading the chase after her on 265 wins ($490,238), while Matt Roberts rounded out the top three on the table with 141 winners ($274,270). Dave and Jean Fahey were the only other conditioners who had passed the century mark having enjoyed 132 training successes ($387,813).
Once again the profound influence that Swimming Goat had achieved is also reflected in the Trainers’ Strike Rate section. He has assisted his mentor Calum Weir to an impressive UDR rating of 0.5767. That figure was compiled by 48 race wins, plus also 21 minor placings from exactly 100 race starters. This section is normally keenly contested for by the Karen Walsh and Dave and Jean Fahey kennels. Walsh, who is the current title holder, held down second with a rating of 0.5626. She had placed 189 starters into the traps, resulting in 80 winners and 59 minor place getters. The Fahey’s had provided 441 starters who had returned their 132 race wins, along with a further 143 minor placings resulting in a UDR rating of 0.4538.
Allegro Gun with his 12 wins has assisted Lisa Ahern to lead the Trainer’s Premiership; aside from Swimming Goat, Zipping Jordan has contributed to Calum Weir leading the Trainers’ Strike Rate table; while Thrilling Raider has maintained an extremely high winning strike rate for Karen Walsh
