2017 AGRC/GRSA AUCTION FINAL - REVIEW
The current feature race king of Angle Park, Ben Rawlings continued on his winning ways when he prepared Kung Fu Mary to win the AGRC/GRSA Auction final last night and claim the $16,000 first place cheque.
Recently greyhounds trained by Ben Rawlings have won the Group 3 Howard Ashton, the Shane McQueen middle distance feature and now the Auction race with his kennel in blistering form.
Kung Fu Mary locally bred by Tina Cattermole was sent out at double figure odds with many believing whist she had plenty of speed she may not be able to sustain her efforts over the 515m journey. With a sizzling start she ran to the front on the first turn with many of her challengers finding trouble while they scrimmaged for position. Springvale Hope for Gavin Harris ran to second while both My Boy Tyler for Bob Isaacson and Fast Fyfe for Kerry Stagg positioned up in the main division. Down the back straight Kung Fu Mary had cleared out from her opposition and went on to record a stirring victory by 1 length in a solid 30.37 for the 515m journey. The beaten brigade all made ground late but couldn’t reel in Kung Fu Mary. Springvale Hope ran a nice second while Fast Fyfe claimed third in the drive to the line. There will be plenty of hard luck stories out of the race with less than 10 lengths separating all 8 greyhounds however Kung Fu Mary made her own luck right at the start of the race.
The Auction final was for those greyhounds that were purchased through the 2015 Greyhound Auction held at Angle Park and is a culmination of almost 2 years preparation for these greyhounds by their owners and trainers in making tonight’s feature final.
Kung Fu Mary is the daughter of Nolen and Hilltop Snow purchased by Neil Rawlings for $4,000 at the sales. She is now in the ownership of the Portlana Syndicate managed by Trevor Thiele and now has the record of 9 wins and 5 placings from 20 starts and prizemoney just below $25,000.
The Auction was reintroduced in 2014 and with the continued support of the Adelaide Greyhound Racing Club, owners and breeders there will be another Auction at Angle Park on Sunday 29th October.