Author: Editor BOAY

David Cairns – breeder-owner of champion sprinter of the ‘early noughties’, Bombastic Shiraz – has died, aged 81. Cairns, who battled a long-term illness, passed away peacefully in his sleep at a full-time care facility on March 23. He was suffering from Lewy body dementia (a disease associated with abnormal deposits of a protein in the brain) and contracted an uncontrollable infection. His son, and ‘shadow’, Darren, who trained Bombastic Shiraz, paid an emotional tribute to his father. “He got on well with everyone; he was that sort of guy…

Salad Dodger looks well placed to land his first country cup on Good Friday after clocking the fastest time among tonight’s Group 2 Ballarat Cup heats. Anthony Azzopardi’s superstar clocked a sizzling 24.92sec, and in doing so turned the tables on Lektra Heckler, who beat him six nights earlier in the Group 2 Shepparton Cup Final. Salad Dodger was also the fastest heat winner at Shepparton before running fourth in the final, while he was the runner-up in last year’s Bendigo Cup. He will exit box six in the $75,000…

Boolarra trainer Shane Richer graduated from the ‘school of hard knocks’ as a young Painter and Docker in the ’70s and ’80s. Not surprisingly, Richer – who ‘cut his teeth’ in Hastings – could write a book about his experiences on the wharves at Western Port, Geelong and Port Melbourne. A self-proclaimed “little Aussie battler”, Richer, 64, is still doing it tough. He has a benign lump on a lung and was diagnosed with Graves’ disease (an immune system disorder that causes an overactive thyroid) two years ago. But the…

Trooper Tears produced one of the quickest runs seen at Sandown Park in recent months when clocking an electrifying 29.012sec in a semi-final of the Group 3 Launching Pad on Thursday evening. On a night in which 32 young guns contested four semis for a spot in next Thursday night’s $225,000 (approx.) final, Trooper Tears stood head and shoulders above the rest when almost breaking the magical 29 seconds barrier in the fourth and final qualifier. The first two placegetters in each semi made it through to the final, which…

Victoria has a ‘gang of six’ still in the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg hunt. Four semi-finals (520m) will be held at Wentworth Park on Saturday night, with the first and second placegetters in each progressing to the $300,000 to-the-winner final on April 8. Balliang’s Mark Delbridge has four semi-finalists flying the ‘Big V’ flag – Landyn Bale (Race 5, Box 7 – 7.30pm), Yachi Bale (Race 7, Box 2 – 8.14pm) and Elite Alex (Race 8, Box 1 – 8.33pm). NB. Reserve Kaheem Bale has obtained a start in…

Excitement machine Rejuvenate is ‘as fresh as a daisy’ leading into the Group 2 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup series (450m), which kicks off with five enthralling heats on Friday night. Prepared at Burramine by Paul Brown, Rejuvenate (Box 4) – a winner of 16 races, with two seconds, from 19 starts – will contest Heat 1 (Race 3, 7.49pm). The incumbent Shepparton 450m track record holder (24.59sec), Rejuvenate bypassed the recent G2 Shepparton Cup series in preference for a tilt at the G1 Golden Easter Egg series. But that plan went astray,…