The ultra consistent greyhound Allegro Gun is finishing the racing season with a real flourish as seen when he annexed his second NZRS Advance final within two weeks at the Cambridge Raceway on Thursday evening.
Pictured: Thursday’s Cambridge NZRS Advanced winner Allegro Gun
It has been a remarkable season for the Brendon Cole bred son of Spring Gun and Hifi Allegro who is prepared by his wife Lisa at the couple’s Palmerston North base. Before we take a look at his achievements we’ll check out Thursday’s $11,000 457m event for the Kiwi bred greyhounds.
Five greyhounds bred by the Cole operation contested this final. It was the littermates Allegro Gun and Spring Allegro who won the break from the midfield traps with Allegro Gun using his known early pace to undertake the pace making role. Gliding into his slipstream was Spring Allegro, while down on the rail Bigtime Doug settled just in behind his kennelmates.
Swinging in for the long run up the Cambridge home straight the siblings had put a gap on their rivals. It was a gap that was never going to be bridged with Allegro Gun being credited with a 1.25 length margin over Spring Allegro by judge Phil Wells. He stopped the clock in a swift 25.41s – a very creditable time on the rain swept track.
It was all on for the third placing, which saw the Karen Walsh prepared Formpro Amazing Chase contender Thrilling Raider finishing solidly along the rail. This son of Sergio and Thrilling Ella out finished Bigtime Doug (Cosmic Rumble – Allegro Star) to claim third four lengths behind the runner up while being 1.25 lengths in front of Bigtime Doug.
In doing so he denied the Cole breeding operation their second consecutive NZRS Advanced clean sweep, after having achieved that distinction in the Hatrick version of this final two weeks ago.
As mentioned it has been a remarkable season for Allegro Gun, who will conclude his 2016-17 racing engagements by contesting the very last greyhound race for the season at the Manawatu Raceway on Monday afternoon.
Allegro Gun commenced the season as a maiden graded chaser. He quickly advanced through to attain open class status and really announced his arrival as a quality greyhound when he broke the Hatrick 305m track record, clocking a slick 17.07s for his December 2 dash.
He then stepped up to 457m racing which saw finishing second to real smart chaser Thrilling Boris in the Group 2 Waikato Classic at Cambridge. He went back to short course sprinting before qualifying for the 457m Group 1 NZ Derby final back at Cambridge in April.
Queen’s Birthday weekend saw Allegro Gun stylishly winning the North Island Challenge Stakes at Group 2 level over 457m at the Manawatu Raceway, which was followed by his second placing in the $40,000 Group 1 NZ Breeders’ Stakes final over 520m at Hatrick.
He then went onto win the Wanganui hosted $11,000 NZRS Advanced final which then led into his Thursday success. Allegro Gun has been active throughout the season having now raced on 55 occasions which has yielded him with 28 wins and 19 minor placings. The soon to be crowned NZ Bred Greyhound of the Year has now won $71,193 (excluding Breeders’ bonus payments) for his owners Cyril and Robyn Evans.
It has been a hugely successful season for members of the Spring Gun – Hifi Allegro litter, spearheaded by Allegro Gun (left) with significant contributions being made by Spring Gun and Allegro Lass, who also tasted success in a NZRS Sprint final
By Peter Fenemor
