2017 Doug Payne Final - Review
The 2017 SA Bred Doug Payne Feature was run last night at Angle Park in front of a large crowd and most would have gone home thinking they have just seen the next big thing in South Australian greyhound racing.
Fittingly for the Doug Payne Feature which has a rich history, the event drew together an outstanding line up of some of the best SA bred chasers going around in South Australia all keen to win the prestigious race and claim the $6,500 first prize.
Zinfandel Zara was having only her 5th lifetime start and blew her rivals away with pure speed in the high quality event. The daughter of Fabregas and Wikena will only turn two in February next year but now already has a feature race to her name. Trained by Gavin Harris and locally bred by Kirin Corby, Zinfandel Zara was well in the market on the back of her impressive Monday night win at headquarters where she lead throughout to record a slick 29.81 victory but was facing tough field in the feature final.
As the start was affected Molly Dobbs for Petar Jovanovic, race favourite Hukanui for Tony Rasmussen, Slipper’s Time for Barry Jones and Zinfandel Zara all showed good speed to the first turn with Molly Dobbs taking up the lead however was quickly passed by Zinfandel Zara as she exploded to the front entering the back straight. Slipper’s Time tried to go with her while Hukanui ran to third and looked a big chance. Off the back straight Zinfandel Zara was high balling in front with Slipper’s Time doing her best to stay in touch with Hukanui beginning to make good ground. Into the front straight Zinfandel Zara was in no danger and extended her lead over the high quality field to go on and win by 6 ½ lengths in super impressive fashion. Hukanui was able to grab second in the shadows of the post and was far from disgraced after having a checked passage while Slipper’s Time held on well for third. Zinfandel Zara ran brilliant sectionals over the 515m journey with splits of 4.41, 16.94 and an overall of 29.66 and with her racing style of getting up the track in the straights it was very reminiscent of an Ernie Bung Arrow or Worm Burner performance.
Zinfandel Zara took her record to 4 wins from only 5 lifetime starts and prizemoney of just over $10,000 with Gavin Harris having a truly special night training two other winners on the program.
Doug Payne is one of only four South Australian GCA Hall of Fame Members and it was great to see a race named in his honor producing such an outstanding performance.