2020 TAB SA Match Race Series Review

28/09/2020
Racing News


On a cold, wet and windy night the contenders for the SA Match race series stepped into the limelight to see who could win the series and gain automatic entry into the Group 1 Adelaide Cup on Friday October 9.

The first Match up saw SA’s sprinting star Shadow Mist for Lauren Harris taking on Group 2 Laurels winner Oakvale Beauty for Nathan Wilson who was resuming from a 3-month break. Most thought race fitness would see Shadow Mist victorious however, after being beaten out by Oakvale Victory to the first turn he struggled to make ground on her for much of the race and an upset was looming. However, turning for home Shadow Mist went into overdrive along the inside and raced away with the first Match. He ran a time of 29.87 which didn’t seem to be fast enough initially to win the overall however considering he only got motoring in the final straight he proved a touch too strong. Oakvale Beauty went terrific for connections running 29.98 which was solid considering she had not greeted the starter for some time and can only improve for the Group 1 Adelaide Cup heats.

The second Match saw Golden Night for Troy Murray rail hard mid race to race away from the Nicole Price trained Lektra Theory.  He has been in blistering form recently and he ran a sizzling 29.58 for the 515m journey winning comfortably and setting the lead which looked very hard to top. Lektra Theory ran well showing good speed and hanging on well to run 29.90, with his antics inside the boxes something to behold.

The third Match saw Adelaide Cup favourite Catch The Thief for Petar Jovanovic step out against Alfieri for Bill Wudarczyk. Catch The Thief began brilliantly and grabbed the early lead and began to post sizzling sectionals. Alfieri stuck to his guns down the back and turning for home he started to eat into the margin however Catch The Thief was going too well and went on to record an identical 29.58, the same as Golden Night. Alfieri showed he was back close to his best with a 29.72 run however, all attention was directed to the judge to see if he could separate Catch The Thief and Golden Night on times, going to three decimals and if required four. As the times were posted Catch The Thief had jumped into the lead by the barest of margins running 29.5741 with Golden Night running 29.5743.

The final Match saw recent Presidents Cup winner at Horsham, the speedy Zipping Zarbo for Tim Aloisi taking on super 600m specialist Defy for Troy Murray shooting for 12 wins out of his last 14 starts. As expected Zipping Zarbo flew the lids and opened up a huge lead of the back straight with Catch The Thief’s lead time in danger if she could keep going. Defy tried hard but could not reduce the margin too much even through Zipping Zarbo got a little tied towards the end of the race. She posted a flying 29.70 good enough run to grab third overall. Defy ran a handy 30.00 with all 8 greyhounds providing an outstanding spectacle in trying conditions.

Catch The Thief was declared the winner and booked his spot in the Group 1 Adelaide Cup on Friday 9th October with all other greyhounds looking to make their way to the final through the heats next Thursday 1st October. Golden Night was declared second overall by the skinniest of margins and Zipping Zarbo in third.

The footage on the night was outstanding with box cam, inside the boxes cam and back straight footage adding to the interest of Match racing. All connections and greyhounds that supported this series should be congratulated and thanked for putting on a terrific spectacle.