Kennel Mates Electrify Futurity Finals

A massive night of action-packed racing at Addington Raceway last Thursday night ended with four feature races. The Futurity Finals were assembled with the best performers out of the previous week’s competitive heats, while dogs were invited after trainer nomination to be part of the National Middle and Distance Finals. Increased stakes for the remainder of the card made for a fascinating nights’ racing with runners coming from around the country.

Daniel Lane and owner Jose Arthur enjoyed a very memorable night as Ozzie and Bolty took out their respective finals in dominant fashion. Since the resumption of racing post lockdown, Ozzie has asserted himself as one of the most consistent chasers in the South Island, if not, New Zealand. He would go into the final of the Fitz Sports Bar Canterbury Futurity as a hot favourite and he did not disappoint. Like last week in her heat, Opawa Cutie for Jean and Dave Fahey made the best beginning, however her tendency to move off the rail on the first bend left a sizeable gap for Ozzie to rail through and he took off down the back straight. Viking Mafia and Opawa Toddy chased hard to fight out the minor placings and Opawa Cutie made up the first four. Ozzie has now amassed $68,000 in stakes with 17 wins and 8 placings from 29 starts.

 

Even from box two, which is not particularly suited to his racing style, Bolty was heavily favoured to take out the Active Electrical Futurity Sprint for the same trainer-owner partnership. Seve also trained by Lane, and the brother of Ozzie took the early lead from box 3. This could not have worked out any better for Bolty as Seve ran out slightly giving his kennel mate ample space to accelerate through the gap. From there the race was over as Bolty cleared away to a blistering 16.84 run once again breaking the 17 second barrier for the 295m with ease. Seve held down second giving Lane the quinella while Just Izzy for Bruce Dann finished third. Bolty takes his earnings past $40,000 with 19 wins from just 26 starts.

 

Leonard Bale for Craig Roberts has improved out of sight over the last month and his victory in the GRNZ Nationals Middle Distance Final was set up after another lightning run to the back mark. The Fernando Bale Folio Bale product for owner J J Wheeler has shown considerable promise since his arrival in New Zealand. Recently he has been beginning a lot sharper and running out his races in an improved fashion after being run down late in some of his early 520m Addington races. On Thursday night he was very courageous pushing past the speedy Big Time Lantao and Big Time Maple before the first bend allowing him to post an impressive 17.84 run to the back mark, setting up his two length 30.37 victory. All consuming for Jean and Dave Fahey ran home well for a classy second while Know State for Gary Cleeve made her way into third position. Leonard Bale is now 10 wins from 16 starts and has the potential along with Ozzie to make the NZ Cup final in November.

 

Uthor Bale for Craig Roberts has been another stand out over the past month with some devastating runs in both 520 and 645m journeys. He has come very close to running Ozzie down over 520 and is the new track record holder for the 645, both very good credentials to have ahead of his first go over the 732m GRNZ Nationals Distance Final. Emgrand Rose for Angela Turnwald had other ideas as he jumped to an early lead grounding out victory over a very game Uthor Bale who was making ground from the midfield for second. Little Teegs for Cambridge based trainer Arch Lawrence finished a commendable third. Emgrand Rose who has demonstrated his staying prowess over the 660m trip at Manawatu Raceway used his early dash to set up a decent buffer between his rivals taking out his biggest New Zealand victory to date.

Written by Shane Kendall