Author: Editor BOAY

If you were searching for a fitting monicker for ‘explosive’ short-course speedster Action Girl, an apt sobriquet would be “Cape Clear Cannonball”. Prepared by Gary Peach, Action Girl – a younger half-sister of 2019 G2 Bendigo Cup winner Crimson Vixen – has won 21 races from 33 starts (an impressive 64% win ratio) including seven of her past 10. She was a finalist in last month’s G2 Healesville Cup, finishing fourth to NSW speed sensation Sacred Stance. Ironically, Action Girl (Box 3) lines up in the $14,960 Cannonball Sprint final…

Victorian-based organisations that care for and support people living with intellectual and physical disabilities were the beneficiaries of the 2022 The Great Chase Community Series that concluded at The Meadows on Wednesday. The 20th running of The Great Chase began with the opening community day at Shepparton on September 8 and concluded Wednesday afternoon at The Meadows after ten community days at metropolitan and regional greyhound clubs across Victoria, distributing over $27,000 in prizemoney for participating local community disability even before the semi-final and finals were conducted. Over 240 people,…

A ‘great’ decision by breeder-owner Scott James resulted in a $47,000 windfall today at The Meadows. Based at Waubra (just over 30km north-west of Ballarat), James was finding it difficult to juggle work as full-time curator for Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club with training greyhounds. James guided All Spritzed Up (Aug ’20 Ritza Lenny x All Dolled Up) to five wins –all successive – from seven starts. Admitting “it hurt”, he then transferred his pride-and-joy – All Spritzed Up – to champion Rowsley trainer Anthony Azzopardi. And it paid off in…

David Geall’s eleventh hour decision to brave the ‘big wet’ and flooding afflicting regional Victoria could be rewarded with a feature race double at Goulburn on Friday. Country cups king Ferdinand Boy (Box 8) will be striving to add to his extensive trophy collection in the Group 3 Goulburn Cup Final (440m), while Hill Top Jonnie (Box 5) will contest the Fireball Final (350m). The “touch and go” call to endure the treacherous driving conditions on the extended 20-hour round-trip for last Friday’s heats could be richly rewarded. The Cup…

It was a ‘bitter-sweet symphony’ for one of Victoria’s premier young trainers, Daniel Gibbons, in last night’s six heats of the Group 3 Gawler Gold Cup (531m). Gibbons journeyed to the SA provincial track (around 40km north of Adelaide) with an aspiring quartet – Cashton Bale ($4.80), McKeon Bale ($1.45F), Kelsey Bale ($1.25F) and Winnington Bale ($8.00). But only Kelsey Bale – winner of Heat 3 – progressed to Sunday’s $25,000 to-the-winner final, with Winnington Bale – second in Heat 4 – the first reserve. Cashton Bale finished sixth in…

How many trainers would hand over an enormously talented homebred greyhound after five straight wins and on the eve of a lucrative feature race? The short answer is very few. However, Scott James, owner, breeder, and original trainer of All Spritzed Up, Sportsbet’s $2 favourite for the $70,335 Group 3 Great Chase Final (525m) at The Meadows on Wednesday afternoon, did just that. After reeling off four successive middle distance victories at The Meadows and Sandown Park, followed by a Sandown 515m success (29.74sec), All Spritzed Up was transferred to…

The success of Javi is thanks to a great partnership between greyhound trainer Marlene Schmidt and her husband Chris, as well as co-owner Gayle Osborne who regularly catches Javi. And no doubt, Marlene’s parents Kevin and Audrey Christie and Gayle’s mum and dad, Ashley and Beryl Osborne, have provided terrific influence over their daughters who share a special bond, thanks to greyhound racing. It is interesting to note that both Schmidt and Osborne are of an age where much younger people would assume that these very active women would not…

Evergreen speedster Javi is from a sensational Apr ’18 Kinloch Brae x Amelia Christa litter including Sixties Rocker, Chart Topper and Party Lights. Earlier this month, Javi contested his 100th start when third at Healesville. Four days later, he finished second to McKeon Bale at The Meadows. Javi has made his own mark on the racing world, with his Devon Meadows trainer Marlene Schmidt declaring him a “gem.” In the first instalment of a two-part series, RSN race-caller Victoria Shaw interviewed Schmidt and points out Javi was sent out favourite at…