Gun Group 2 Victory
Out in front, out of trouble is a common phrase used in Group racing. That adage was conclusively proved during the running of Monday’s $15,000 North Island Challenge Stakes at the Manawatu Raceway at Group 2 level.
Pic: Brendon Cole and Barry Stevens with North Island Challenge Stakes winner Allegro Gun
The Lisa Cole mentored Allegro Gun showed his rivals a clean set of hind paws after bouncing smartly away from the two trap. It was a set of paws that his rivals viewed throughout in this 457m event.
Adding further credence to the lead saying above was the early sensation that occurred after the field had travelled around 30 or 40 meters. The classy greyhound American Warrior deservedly started as the hot race favourite. He had crushed his heat rivals in the previous week’s heats, recording a smart 25.81s gallop.
As usual, he wasn’t the quickest into stride. American Warrior punched forward into the body of the field where he was denied clear racing room. He was tightened and squeezed up becoming unbalanced and took a spectacular fall. He came away from the track with some bruising, which is great news for his conditioners Dave and Jean Fahey.
Meanwhile up front, Allegro Gun was swiftly skipping across the sand/loam surface. His kennelmate Storm Warning was leading the chase after him while stalking him and looming into contention was the Craig Roberts trained Ride Ain’t Over. The Matt Roberts prepared pair of kennelmates Cawbourne Trixy and Cawbourne Nath was tucked in behind the lead group, while the balance of the field was out of contention owing to the earlier melee.
Allegro Gun maintained his strong on the pace gallop and he had built a sufficient enough margin to hold off the strong finishing Ride Ain’t Over by a three-quarter length margin. The Cole bred son of Spring Gun and Hifi Allegro stopped the clock in 25.98s. The current NZ Derby title holder Storm Warning was the next to greet, arriving home a further 2.5 lengths astern.
Allegro Gun has mainly been known as a sharp short course sprinter. After all, he is the current Hatrick 305m track record holders (17.07s). He had shown enough to suggest that a solid middle distance win was within the grasp of his paws. His third placing in the Group 2 Waikato Classic and making the NZ Derby final field confirmed those thoughts.
“Allegro Gun is a tremendously fast dog – he has a huge motor. The reason why we have been sprinting him is we have numerous greyhounds in the open class middle distance ranks and he is sharp enough to win open class sprints – it’s trying to separate as many of our dogs as we can.
“I was really, really pleased with his run. He broke away quickly from the lids and he did everything right and he kept on travelling well after that. He broke 26 seconds which was on a bitterly cold day,” said Brendon Cole.
North Island Challenge Stakes podium with Allegro Gun being flanked by Ride Ain’t Over and Storm Warning; Allegro Gun’s mum, Hifi Allegro who was an ultra sharp sprinter trained by Lisa Cole and seen here with Brendon and Lisa Cole when she was crowned as the 2008/09 Greyhound of the Year
Allegro Gun’s biggest career win saw him extend his stakes earnings out to $47,102 – the result of 23 wins and 15 minor placings from his 47 race day assignments for his owners Cyril and Robyn Evans who were in Australia when the race was run.
Monday’s victory by Allegro Gun was the Cole kennels 600th training success for the current season. There are plenty more race wins to come as Cole explains the background to the extensive, planned Breeding program the family has undertaken.
“Three years ago when I was in the hospital I nearly died (he was in ICU a couple of times). Initially I was going to get out of greyhound racing, however, I had a rethink after realising I had a second chance at life. We had a number of quality bitches here so we made the decision to breed from them whenever they came into season. The results you are seeing today is the upshot of that. I guess you can say I’m back.
“I’m real proud of what we are achieving and I’m very grateful for the great staff we have. My girls (daughters Georgia and Ella), Sam Lozell, Ivan Howe and his daughter, plus Maddie (granddaughter of southern industry participants Roy and Georgina Hamilton), who is studying at Massey University all contribute to our success,” advised Cole.
“It sure has been a dream week for us,” he rightfully added.
By Peter Fenemor
