Jilliby Litsa and Big Time Fairy Sublime in Group Victories
Hatrick Raceway hosted the final Group race meeting of the Calendar year with the running of the Group One Spion Rose Feature and the Group Two Dash For Cash Final. Sergio, Know Peace, Cawbourne Crouch, Allen Ablett and Nature’s Gent have been some of the better performed canines to take home the winning share of the $45,000 stake. This year He’s All Shine for Sam Lozell would have the opportunity to defend his 2019 title. Trojan Hoarse also lined up to defend his Dash for Cash title, where he defeated fellow finalist Buddy Boom.
Early favourite and heat winner of the Spion Rose, Bigtime Cooper, was a late omission from the race, gifting another Lisa Cole trained runner Jilliby Litsa a shot at Group One glory on her third attempt. Locally trained Classic Rapper, who ran the race of his career in the heat, was also scratched on Thursday, handing Emma Potts a duo in the final as Our Rick went into box four.
Ozzie for Daniel Lane made another Group One final and would start equal favourite along with the Craig Roberts prepared Zipping Sheldon, who was super in his best on night second behind Big Time Harley. Big Time Izzy received another box one for the final and seemed the likely leader but it was the first reserve in the nine rug Jilliby Litsa who speared into a front running position crossing Izzy from box two. Leaders were proving hard to catch on the night over the 520m and Jilliby Litsa’s explosiveness early was too much for her opposition to peg back as she took out this year's edition of the Kayana Property Brokers Spion Rose by three lengths in a quick 29.90s. The favoured southern runners Ozzie and Zipping Sheldon found early traffic once again which put pay to their chances. Lisa Cole would bag the quinella with Big Time Izzy who was brave in second, while defending champ He’s All Shine held on for third place. The first reserve runners have now taken out the title in consecutive years after Thrilling Talk was scratched last year giving He’s All Shine a start. Back in 2014, the Lisa Cole trained Fashion and Fame picked up box one from a first reserve spot, holding onto victory over Cawbourne Crouch in one of the best finishes the Spion Rose has seen.
The 2020 edition of the Whanganui Toyota Dash For Cash was one of the most even in recent memory with an abundance of early zip from numerous runners. Trojan Hoarse, Big Time Brie, Big Time Fairy and even Buddy Boom have the ability to produce sizzling early splits. The later two both drew identical boxes in the heat and the final, producing identical results as Fairy picked the jump to perfection again, while Buddy Boom booted up into a clear trailing position. The two favourites, Trojan Hoarse and Big Time Brie, were unable to match the flying Fairy early as she sped away to victory improving on her heat time with a brilliant 17.36s. Buddy Boom has now finished second in back-to-back years after another very honest performance, while Trojan Hoarse recovered from a slow beginning by his standards to run third. A 6.83s opening section was where the race was won for Fairy who takes home her first Group race trophy.
