2020 Gawler Gold Cup Review
The weather might have been cool on Sunday night, but there was plenty of hot racing at Gawler greyhounds on Sunday night.
In our premier race meeting of the year, the highlight of the night was the running of the $26500 Gawler Gold Cup, run over the 531m journey. In a unique set of events, the field comprised of four runners trained by Ray Murray, and three by his son Troy.
Troy’s runner, Major Major from box 2, took the early lead, but Ray’s runner Air Marshall (1) quickly railed through to lead, setting the race up for a true father and son battle. Getting away by three lengths down the back straight, Air Marshall was travelling well, but slowly Major Major gathered ground. With the two on level terms, entering the home straight, Major Major finished too strongly for Air Marshall, but then had to contend with a fast finishing Golden Night (3) who flashed home along the rails.
In a tight photo finish, Major Major won by just a head over Golden Night, also trained by Troy, with Air Marshall in third position. Both Major Major and Golden Night are owned by George Kairouz, who hails from NSW, and caps off a great few weeks for Troy and George. The duo took out the prestigious Group 1 Adelaide Cup recently with Golden Night, who also won the Group 3 SA Derby. Last night’s win took Major Major’s racing record to 20 wins and 9 placings from 36 race starts, and a prizemoney tally of over $75000.
Owner George Kairouz said he was “over the moon” with the results, and paid tribute to his friend Terry Hill, and to Troy for their exceptional efforts. George has been involved in greyhounds for many years, and explained that since meeting Terry back in 1994, he has relied heavily on Terry’s advice and judgement when selecting their breeding stock. Racing only greyhounds that he has bred, George said that he felt like a “kid in the lolly shop”, being able to have the success of seeing your own litters win Group events. Under Troy’s care, George said that the dog’s had gone to another level. Major Major will now head to Brisbane to contest their Derby, while Golden night is off to Melbourne with an invitation to run in the Topgun Race.
With the Murrays having seven runners between them, it was a taxing time arranging handlers and helpers to get them onto the track and to also catch, and they were grateful for help from family members, owners and other trainers.
Based at Lewiston, Troy is currently sitting in second position on the SA Leading Trainer’s table, having amassed 134 winners this year. Troy is no stranger to winning the Gawler Gold Cup, taking his tally to five wins, and scoring his first win in 2004 with Saxonator. And Ray has a good record there too, winning two Gold Cups as well.
We are currently racing on Friday and Tuesday afternoons, but watch for news of a change on this soon.
Picture: L to R: Jackson Murray (Troy’s son) Troy Murray, Josh Thompson, Brett Thompson (an owner who helped on the night), Sarah Thompson with Major Major and Golden Night (right)