Alex Attack was crowned as the Auckland GRC 2017/18 Greyhound of the Year at the Manukau Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Trained by Jared Udy and Denise Cottam and raced by Jared, Alex Attack, who was a giveaway greyhound, performed very consistently over the 318m sprint at the Auckland headquarters throughout the season.
That consistency also saw Alex Attack winning the points based Auckland Sprinter of the Year title (51 points) over his kennel mate Kiwi Boy (48). The same pair of locally bred greyhounds also featured in the Auckland New Zealand Bred Greyhound of the Year section with Alex Attack heading off Kiwi Boy with the same points tally.
Making the feat even more remarkable for Alex Attack was him successfully defending his Auckland Sprinter Greyhound of the Year and Auckland New Zealand Bred Greyhound of the Year titles that he won for the 2016/17 racing season. Alex Attack’s racing highlight for the season came when he finished second in the Qualified Pet Services Railway Sprint final over 318m at Group 1 level.
The 2017/18 Auckland Greyhound of the Year Alex Attack; Owner and trainers Jared Udy and Denise Cottam with the special dress rug; Jared Udy and son Kellan with their Auckland Sprinter and NZ Bred awards presented by Auckland Chairman John Roberts
The grand Ray Adcock prepared stayer Ring The Bell was named as the 2017/18 Auckland Distance Greyhound of the Year. He successfully defended his Duke Of Edinburgh Silver Collar title when wining both his heat and the final of the demanding 779m staying event. In doing so he became the first greyhound to win back to back Silver Collars finals with the Group 1 bonus points from that event resulting in the Four Frothy’s syndicate owned Ring The Bell edging out the Silver Collar runner up Dusty Gambler from the Karen Walsh kennels for the title by 13 points to 12.
The 2017/18 Auckland Distance Greyhound of the Year, Ring The Bell with his award being accepted by Jen Bartlett with Auckland Chairman John Roberts
The 2017/18 Auckland Middle Distance Greyhound of the Year title was won by the Thayne Green prepared Stay Away Haydo. His consistency over the 527m trip saw him picking up 56 points while holding a nine point margin over his kennel mate San Tan Samson. Stay Away Haydo is owned by Thayne Green, Greg Pomeroy and John Smith.
It was also dual awards success for Stay Away Haydo as the Auckland GRC recognises the top track performer throughout the season with the greyhound winning the most Manukau races (all race distances) being named as the Auckland Track Star greyhound. Stay Away Haydo won 11 of his Manukau 527m races and by landing ten or more track wins saw his connections being rewarded with a $500 bonus payment. The runner up was Kiwi Boy who secured ten 318m sprint wins.
The 2017/18 Auckland Middle Distance Greyhound of the Year is Stay Away Haydo and pictured here with Auckland Chairman John Roberts and owners Greg Pomeroy, Thayne Green (trainer) and John Smith
The leading 2017/18 Auckland trainers was also acclaimed on Sunday. Ben Craik leads a highly successful family based training operation with his wife Barbara, along with their daughters Lisa and Tracy. Their training successes saw the Drury team mentoring 78 Manukau winners during the season to win the 2017/18 Auckland Trainer of the Year title. The runner up for the trainers’ award was Jared Udy and Denise Cottam who prepared 69 Manukau winners.
The 2017/18 Auckland Strike Rate Trainer of the Year winner is Peter Ferguson. He completed the season with a tidy UDR figure of 0.3399. Ben Craik was the runner up in this section with his kennel compiling a UDR figure of 0.287. In accepting his award Peter Ferguson acknowledged the assistance he receives from his wife Wendy and numerous other people who helps out at his Cambridge based kennels.
All Auckland GRC awards winners received a framed certificate, along with an inscribed collar and lead detailing their respective wins.
Tracy Craik accepted the award 2017/18 Auckland Trainer of the Year on behalf of her family, seen here with Auckland Chairman John Roberts; leading 2017/18 Auckland Strike Rate Trainer of the Year winner Peter Ferguson.
Pawnote: Sunday’s $30,000 guaranteed TAB Pick6 again proved too tough to crack, with just $3,000 of the pool being paid out to the holder of a ten percent ticket. As a result of that the TAB has now guaranteed the Pick6 pool to $50,000 for next Sunday’s meeting.
By Peter Fenemor
