Thrilling Izzy and Uthor Bale Star Performers Of The Week
There were no heats or group races over the past week in New Zealand greyhound racing, however, an abundance of quality competitive racing highlighted the week across the country. For only the second time post lockdown, Forbury Park played host to the Otago Greyhound meeting on Thursday, it is hopeful that there will be more consistent racing there again after uncertainties around the club's future. A three meeting smorgasbord of 31 races in both islands was a great sign for New Zealand greyhound racing as Waikato and Christchurch held their regular time slots along with Otago.
Effectively the Auckland greyhound meeting at Manukau SportsBowl on Sunday marked the start of the greyhound racing week with no recent racing on Saturday, and one dog, in particular, is making a big impression in the north. Thrilling Izzy for Karen Walsh may have been going under the radar for a while but the daughter of Thrilling Flo and Fernando Bale has really flourished coming up against the regions open class racers. Take away her trip to Christchurch in August where she raced for the first time at a new track against some of the countries best, she has won six races in a row. Thrilling Izzy blew apart her rivals in the Clover Park Cup for the open class chasers running past the Auckland Cup winner in Silenci on her way to an impressive 30.37 time and win 14 in her 19 start career. Her stakes have grown to $25,000 and she looks to have more in the tank. The quality of young bitches in the north is at a very high level at the moment.
On Tuesday, Manawatu Raceway held their Class 5 middle distance race very early in the piece in race one and it was great to see a former star of this track recapture some form. Bigtime Brody for Lisa Cole was one of the more consistent performers around the Manawatu track prior to lockdown with some very fast times proving his class. His personal best time of 25.64 over the 457 meters set late last year was an incredible time and it is no fluke that he has earned over $80,000 in stakes as one of the central regions more underrated greyhounds. His 26.21 victory from box 8 on a slow Tuesday track proved that he still has some quality racing left in him. The striking black dog out of the first of two Sheer Miss litters has now saluted the judge 21 times with a further 30 placings from 90 starts.
After a few weeks away up north capturing a distance race victory and a third in the Whanganui Cup heats Uthor Bale returned to home soil to pick up where he left off. The track record holder over the 645 meters picked on a handy lot of Christchurch’s distance racers for his return from the awkward 6 draw, and he did not disappoint. Uthor blasted away from the boxes heading to a seemingly easy lead before the first corner, and from there the result was never in doubt. His 8 length demolition in another quality time of 37.64 was probably the evening's highlight, along with another effortless Bolty victory as he put pay to his Class 5 field from the squeeze box of 5 in a time of 16.88 over the 295 meters.