The Old Firm Strikes Again

The Old Firm Strikes Again

Short course sprinting is initially all about box speed, then racing on the pace. That’s precisely the racing tactics that the Lisa Cole prepared sprinter Cheese And Chalk deployed when he exited from the Manukau 318m five trap on Sunday afternoon. The end result – a strong pace making victory in the $8,500 NZRS Sprint final.

Pictured: Cheese And Chalk following his sharp Sunday NZRS Sprint win

It was also a victory for the in-depth breeding program undertaken by Brendon and Lisa Cole, along with their longtime kennel client Craig Rendle. Cheese And Chalk is a member of the October 2016 whelped Fernando Bale and Ocotillo litter, that was bred by Rendle, meaning he benefits from the Breeder’s bonus payment attached to this NZRS final, plus also the portion of the winning stake as he’s also the owner.

Cheese and Chalk proceeded to control the pace throughout and after 18.59s of sprinting he was rewarded with his feature win by a 1.75 length margin. Jinja Mongo (Fabregas – Jinja Ruby) pushed up along the rail after hopping away from trap three for his conditioners Wayne and Tracey Steele. He pressed on resolutely to claim the runners up prize while his kennel mate Captain Kev (Captain Coutts – Le Cigale), who was wearing the red racing vest, finished solidly for his third placing a further three-quarters of a length behind.

Cheese And Chalk has been a consistent greyhound throughout his career, successfully mixing up his race distances. Sunday’s win was his 14th, while he has placed in a further 21 of his 56 career races. That all adds up to $33,290 in stakes earnings (excluding Breeder’s bonus payment for Rendle.

Other high performing members of the Fernando Bale and Ocotillo litter includes the dual Group 1 winner and a 2018/19 GRNZ Greyhound of the Year finalist Trojan Hoarse ($110,511) along with Sun Eighteen ($28,296), Podium Phobia ($19,421) and It’s Complicated ($11,784). Ocotillo finished as the runner up in the 2018/19 Dam standings having whelped 81 winners during the season.

 Handler Sam Lozell brought Cheese And Chalk back to the Manukau podium; runner up Jinja Mongo and the third-placed Captain Kev

Sunday support races

It was a strong undercard to the Group 1 Waterloo Cup feature event at the Manukau Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Here’s a pictorial round-up from those races.  

The recently imported Steve Clark trained Platinum Earner got the meeting underway when he delivered his 18.85s first race C2 318m win; Little Apple flashed home late to annex her 31.55s C1 527m win for her trainers Wayne and Tracey Steele, while the second C1 527m heat was stylishly won by the Karen Walsh prepared Thrilling Amelia in 31.23s

   

Paddy’s Passion quickly bounced away from the five trap to deliver her pace making 18.70s C2/3 318m win for her trainer Thayne Green; the open class sprinters was next up which resulted in a pace making 18.67s 318m win for the Jared Udy and Denise Cottam trained Miss Claude; The Phil Green trained Native Scout dashed home late to secure his 18.99s C4 318m win

Manicorn finished strongly when he landed his 18.79s C2/3 318m win for his conditioner Ben Craik; Kiwi Gal led all the way when she provided Jared Udy and Denise Cottam with their second winner – she completed her C2/3 527m assignment in 30.99s; the meeting wrapped up with another training win for Wayne and Tracey Steele when Carbon Tiger took out his C1 318m dash in 18.79s.

By Peter Fenemor