Two Friday’s ago leading conditioner Lisa Cole trained the winners of the three 520m heats held for the Wanganui hosted NZRS Graduation series. Last Friday she returned with those three heat winners to provide the trifecta in $8,500 final, meaning that between them Lisa Cole and long-time kennel client Craig Rendle they also made it a clean sweep with the associated NZRS Breeders’ bonus payments attached to the event.
Pictured: Collen Bridier brought back Friday’s Hatrick NZRS Graduation winner Bigtime Forest to the podium
The exciting young greyhound Bigtime Rocco went into the final as the hot $1.60 tote favourite following his outstanding 30.08s 520m heat win and when securing his heat win this talented son of Brett Lee and Sheer Miss made it eight consecutive race victories.
However it was another Cole prepared runner Sub Eighteen who effectively ended Bigtime Rocco’s unbeaten winning streak. Sub Eighteen (Fernando Bale – Ocotillo) made his usual quick start from trap seven and he contested the early pace when heading into the first turn.
Bigtime Rocco also made a solid start and he was holding the inside running line when racing through the first turn when Sub Eighteen cut down onto him and gave him a decent whack, resulting in the favourite losing vital momentum at that crucial stage. That rough house tactic also effectively ended the claims held by Sub Eighteen in this event at that point.
Saying thank you very much was the experienced campaigner Bigtime Forest (30.42s heat winner) who was sitting on the rail a fraction of a stride behind his kennelmates. He seized the rails racing passage, slipped through underneath and extended strongly when racing down the back straight.
Meanwhile quickly recovering from a moderate start was the third Cole trained heat winner Bigtime Tank (30.57s). This son of Fabregas and Kissing Gwyneth cleverly negotiated traffic when rounding that first turn and he quickly found himself racing handy to the pace with his kennelmates, well clear of the balance of the field.
Bigtime Forest was freewheeling along in front of his rivals and this son of Collision and Pink Sock maintained that solid gallop right through to the line where he secured his feature race victory, clocking a “sedate” 30.91s. Aside from the first turn incident, the time certainly was affected by the dead nature of the track following constant rain during the day – very well done to the Hatrick track staff who, despite trying conditions, presented a safe racing surface for the evening.
Bigtime Rocco was bold in the manner that he strode to the finish, coming up 2.25 lengths astern of his winning kennelmate. Bigtime Tank went the race of his ten race career when he gamely held onto third a further 3.5 lengths behind, while fending of the late challenge thrown at him by the Nathan Udy prepared Opawa Denise by a head margin.
Friday’s Hatrick NZRS Gradation winner Bigtime Forest; runner up Bigtime Rocco and the third placed Bigtime Tank
Bigtime Forest has been a competitive “bread and butter” type of greyhound for his owners and breeders Lisa Cole and Craig Rendle for a long time now. He did reach the open class chasing ranks in November last year. Friday’s race was his 104th outing and it was his 18th career win. Add in a further 31 minor placings now sees this fella’s career stake earnings sitting at a handy $54,355. Winning this NZRS Graduation final was a thoroughly deserved win for him.
The Wanganui GRC certainly dodged a bullet during their Group 1 Wanganui Distance meeting. Steady rain fell throughout the day, however it had eased back to showery conditions when the race meeting got underway. Half through the meeting the showers cleared for the running of the two feature finals. Then, shortly after racing has been completed, the skies really opened up with an intense, long deluge with the rain being that torrential, that there would have been no way racing could have continued.
As usual, there was quality racing held on Group 1 meeting undercard. It was another hugely successful meeting for the Lisa Cole kennels, who prepared six winners during the evening, taking her season’s total wins up to 445, exactly 100 wins ahead of the second placed John McInerney kennels. Another notable milestone was recently achieved for Cole having again broken through the million dollar stakes earning barrier for the current season ($1,083,158). Here’s pictorial round up Coles’ other five Friday Hatrick winners.
Bigtime Lovie landed his C2 305m win in 17.90s; Bigtime Basher broke through the $50,000 stakes earning barrier when landed his 25th career win by taking out the C5 305m dash in 17.75s – he’s seen here with Georgie Cole; Bigtime Alfie was stylish when he delivered his 30.77s C2/3 520m win; Bigtime Levi made it two wins for the week when he powered to his effortless 30.40s C3/4 520m victory – he’s pictured here with his handler Sam Phillips; there was nothing complicated about It’s Complicated when she delivered her last race 17.86s C2/3 305m win, seen here with her handler Wendy Kite
From top left: The meeting opened with the local 83 year old trainer Freddy Kite mentoring Bigtime On Track to her 17.88s C2 305m win – Fred’s daughter Wendy is pictured here with her dad’s greyhound and she rightfully commented at the podium, “Dad can still train a winner or three”; The first of Matt Roberts’ (pictured) two staying training wins came when Cawbourne Zulu delivered her 38.51s C1/2D win over the 645m trip – her win preceded her sister’s later victory in the Group 1 Wanganui Distance final; Gary (pictured) and Sandra Fredrickson gained a thoroughly deserved win with Gazza’s Girl who got up in the very final bound to snatch her exciting nose 17.85s C2/3 305m win; Opawa Lyon capped off some consistent C4 sprinting form when he prevailed in the meet best 305m 17.59s time for his local trainer Nathan Udy; hopping into the race 11 C2/3 305m field from off the reserves bench for her trainers Ivan Howe and Wayne Woods was Mahala Bay. This daughter of the champion greyhound Little Mother scampered to her 18.11s win and she is seen here with her owner Wayne Woods
By Peter Fenemor
