It’s Foundation afternoon at the Manukau Stadium on Sunday when the Auckland GRC acknowledges the input from many who shaped the northern club over the last seven decades. Accordingly the club has framed a pair of quality open class races to celebrate Founders day. The 527m greyhounds are contesting the Founders Day Stakes (race 9), while the speed merchants are sprinting over 318m in the Founders Day Trophy (race 11) dash.
Pictured: Cameo Syd who is a leading contender for the Founders Day Stakes on Sunday
The Ben Craik prepared Cameo Syd was the stylish winner of the recent $12,000 NZRS Advanced final here two races ago. He tends to race handy to the pace which is how he achieved that feature win from trap six and drawing trap seven on Sunday is likely to assist him. It’s best to overlook his last start 527m miss which was from the unsuitable (for him) trap one.
You won’t sight Ramblin’ On during the early rush for positions. You’ll sight the Wayne and Tracey Steele prepared chaser in the rear group when heading towards the first turn. You are likely to see the green racing vest worn by her flashing home late just like she did here two weeks ago when she pounced late to snatch her meet best 30.46s 527m win.
Jinja Might has been producing competitive 527m races as we saw two Sundays ago when it look the strong finishing Ramblin’ On to gun him down at the business end when he was nailed by just a head margin. The ability of this Jared Udy and Denise Cottam trained chaser to race on the pace is always an asset. He can punch forward onto the pace after exiting from trap four here after warming up for this via his 6.25 length Cambridge 375m Thursday third..
Shannon conditioner Deb Edlin is enjoying a fair amount of success with her charge Jinja Flash. She was ecstatic when he graduated into the open class chasing ranks via his powerful finishing recent 30.39s Hatrick C4 520m win. He has been a consistent greyhound in his Manukau 527m races, having placed in all three of his previous visits to the Auckland headquarters. He’s likely to take an early sit from the three trap here.
Founders Day Stakes contenders includes (from left): Ramblin’ On; Jinja Might; Jinja Flash
Yooldome was strong, very strong when he produced his 30.77s C4 527m win last Sunday for Glynis Farrell. Drawing trap one for this assignment has certainly enhanced his stake earning claims in this event. He returned to open class at Cambridge on Thursday where he suffered from a traffic impeded racing passage in a hot 457m field.
On the other paw his kennelmate Go Angel has drawn poorly in the five trap. She’s a recent open class graduate (winning C4 527m three races ago). She returns to this venue after delivering her bold Cambridge last start 650m second.
Rumble Soldier will load away into trap eight for his trainer Peter Fergusson. Geez what a sensational Cambridge 457m Thursday he delivered! The TAB bookies offer him at 60/1 while he returned a $36.60 win dividend. He cleared out from his rivals when delivering his freewheeling win over a strong field by an easy 5.25 length margin, clocking 25.64s.
The only C4 graded chaser drawn into this field is his kennelmate Soaring Hawk. She all but won last Sunday’s C4 527m event when she set up the pace prior to being mowed down late by Yooldome (1.75 lengths). She gave every impression that she would have benefited from that outing which was delivered from trap two, the same trap that this dual 527m Group 1 finalist will exit from on Sunday.
Obviously both reserves are C4 assessed greyhounds. Thayne Green provides the first reserve Sue Zookie who produced 1.3 length Thursday C4 457m third. Pat Tama occupies the second possie on the reserves bench for Steve Clark. He was downgraded back to C3 following his Thursday C4 375m miss.
Founders Day Trophy
Blitz ‘Em Rene is a sharp proven Manukau 318m sprinter and she has drawn to return to winning form from the ace trap in this dash. Going close to her 18.33s best 318m clock should be sufficient to see this Jared Udy and Denise Cottam trained sprinter being required to attend the Manukau podium.
Speaking about sharp sprinters how about the Ben Craik prepared Just One Smile? She showed she was over her recent issues when she dashed to her last start Cambridge meet best 21.45s 375m win which returned her into the open class sprinting ranks. She has been a potent Manukau 318m sprinter for a long time (18.29s best) and she can beat her poor trap five draw here.
Emma Potts unleashed the recently imported New South Wales chaser Tough Torgue at Manukau last Sunday. 18.57s later she placed his collar back around him after he stylishly won his NZ debut sprint. Natural improvement can be expected from this Sunday from the three trap following that fresh up effort from him.
Founders Day Trophy contenders includes (from left): Blitz ‘Em Rene; Just One Smile; Tough Torgue
His kennelmate Thrilling Katie is returning here after receiving an impeded racing passage in the recent Dash For Cash sprint final. Amazingly she has drawn the eight trap again – her fourth consecutive race from there. She has won two of those sprints including her 18.42s win on this track three races ago.
Jinja Mungo is generally sighted charging home late in his 318m sprints for Wayne and Tracey Steele. We saw that last Sunday when he wound up just a half head behind Tough Torgue. That’s what you can expect from this bloke as he did exactly that in his previous 318m sprint here when he chased home Blitz ‘Em Rene. He will hop away from trap four here.
Local trainer Hayley Mullane provides two sprinters for this dash. Harry Brown returned to C5 sprinting last Sunday where he finished a 6.6 length fourth to Tough Torgue. He has been allocated trap two to leap from here. Highland Laddie has also recently regained his open class sprinting stripes and he returns here after his luckless Hatrick last start 305m sprint. He will be sighted wearing the black racing vest here.
The drawn field is completed by the Sean Codlin prepared Mad Harry who was another sprinter who return to the open class sprinting ranks when he delivered his pace making 18.58s Sunday C4 318m win. He will be sighted in the green racing vest in this feature. .
Pawnote: Both Founders Day feature events are legs in the guaranteed $20,000 TAB Pick6 (races 8-13). The Auckland GRC will also conduct another round of their popular Last One Standing competitions. Teams of five place win and/or tote best on five designated races (races 6-10) and the team with the highest total (dividends) who gets through all five races will be rewarded with an additional $400 compliments of the Auckland GRC. There’s a $50 entry fee per team.
By Peter Fenemor
