2020 Shane McQueen Final
Sir Truculent continued on his winning way tonight at Angle Park, this time capturing the prestigious Shane McQueen Feature Final over the 600m with a paralysing burst of speed, over the concluding stages.
The son of Worm Burner and Establish is locally owned, bred and trained by Wally Harkins with his star greyhound giving him some of his biggest highlights in racing over the last 12 months. He has now won 12 of his last 16 starts, 10 of them over the 731m including the Stayers Cup and the last two over the middle distance at headquarters, pocketing the heat and final of the Shane McQueen along with the $7,995 first prize tonight.
It wasn’t easy for Sir Truculent, having to combat a high quality field from the outside box saw him entering the back straight near last and wide with his main rivals, Two Times Twice for Ben Rawlings and Holy Reign for Robyn Mackellar high balling in the lead. However, there would be no doubt of his strength as he began to gather in the leaders down the back straight. Two Times Twice was going well in the lead with Holy Reign being challenged by the Damien Bates trained Ask Me Know for second as they left the back straight. Sir Truculent was still 6 or 7 lengths off the lead and wide but was beginning to motor home. Turning for home, Two Times Twice was still going well and looked as if he shook off his rivals until the big black dog came thundering home, two to his one in the shadows of the post, with Sir Truculent going onto win by almost 2 lengths. His time of 34.93 was also slick, highlighting what an amazing performance this was. Two Times Twice finished second with Ask Me Now back in third but take nothing away from Sir Truculent, he gave his rivals a start and a beating.
Sir Truculent has now won 19 races with 19 placings from 48 starts with career prizemoney just under $80,000.
This was the seventeenth running of the event, which is named in the memory of former GRSA CEO, Shane McQueen who tragically passed away in May 2003. Shane worked with the Office of Gaming in Western Australia and then as the Operations Manager with Greyhounds WA before moving his family across the border and joining Greyhound Racing SA as the CEO back in 1998. Shane was an outstanding administrator with a real passion for our sport in South Australia and had a significant impact on our industry which can easily be seen today.