The axiom ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ was reality for Ashlee Terry when Soda Diamond took out today’s Healesville Puppy Championship.
Soda Diamond registered his fifth win from six starts over 300m up Healesville’s straight track and earned a $5000 first prize for owners, the Soda Lodge syndicate.
“We gave him a chance to run a nice race and we knew the three would be very hard to beat, but he loves Healesville so that gave us a chance,” trainer Ash Terry said.
“It means a lot to win the Puppy Championship for the owners (The Soda Lodge Syndicate), they are great friends of ours and I’m sure they will be thrilled.”
The Jan ’18 Barcia Bale x Ruff Cut Diamond speedster has now won nine races from 12 starts and $15,765 in prizemoney.
Except for his first start, where he won his Maiden at Bendigo, Soda Diamond has raced exclusively at Healesville – including three wins from five starts over 350m.
“I think Healeville is a great track for dogs to learn in a field without the pressure of the corner,” Terry said.
Exiting from Box 2 in the final, Soda Diamond ($5.00) was third at the first split but prevailed in a thrilling finish defeating Perfect Colour ($8.50) by 0.5L, with Zipping Annabel ($37.40) a further 0.3L away third in 16.84sec. Race favourite Cyclone Fergus ($1.90F) finished fifth.
WATCH: Track specialist Soda Diamond (3) wins a thrilling Healesville Puppy Championship, where only 3.4L separated first from last.
What’s next for Soda Diamond?
“I will take him back around the circle for a bit and see how he goes. He can track a bit wide around the circle but he’s come along way,” Terry said.
“I would also love to go coursing with him, he’s very clean winded and has trialled well at Lang Lang.”
It was a big weekend for Ashlee and her partner Nathan Rooney who are based at Nilma North.
Rooney finished second with Percy’s Magic in the Winter Cup (520m) won by Houdini Boy at Cranbourne on Saturday night.
Ironically, Rooney finished third with Percy’s Magic in last year’s Healesville Puppy Championship won by Aston Bintang. He has recently taken over the training of Aston Bintang.
“We were so proud of Percy’s Magic last night. We knew we were in trouble with him sitting behind us that’s for sure,” Terry said.
Jason McKeown Photography
