2021 Group 3 Brian Johnstone Final
It was a brother and sister feature race quinella last night at Angle Park when litter mates Zinfandel Bart for Cherylee Barber and Zinfandel Nikki for Gavin Harris ran first and second in the prestigious Group 3 Brian Johnstone final at headquarters. The siblings are owned in the same interests by Stewart Barber, Cherylee Barber and Gavin Harris and are beautifully bred by Cherylee, being by Barcia Bale out of Zinfandel Zara who only had the 9 starts before injury ceased her racing career but not before she won 6 races including the SA Bred Doug Payne Feature and Christmas Sprint in 2017.
Race favourites for the event however were the Victorian duo of Earthworm Jim and Nike Apache trained by Keith Hellmuth with the other fourth spots filled by the Ben Rawlings team with Simply Chaos, Spring Drama, Garry’s Chaos and Blue By You making up the high quality field of sprinting youngsters.
As the start was affected Zinfandel Bart came out running from box 5 and raced forward towards the lead. He was challenged on the inside by his sister, Zinfandel Nikki while Earthworm Jim tried to hold a forward position along the inside after a moderate start. Simply Chaos, Spring Drama and Nike Apache all moved to midfield as the first turn came up. Zinfandel Bart accelerated into the bend to race to a clear lead followed by “Nikki” and Earthworm Jim while Nike Apache found himself out 4 and 5 wide due to some interference.
Into the back straight and Zinfandel Bart adopted catch me if you can tactics and raced away from his rivals with Zinfandel Nikki in hot pursuit. Nike Apache ranged up along side his kennel mate Earthworm Jim as they battled out third. Off the back straight and Zinfandel Bart was not looking like being caught, Zinfandel Nikki was holding second but being challenged by Nike Apache who ran to third however went for a run to the inside of “Nikki” and clipped heels and lost ground allowing Earthworm Jim third spot on the track.
Entering the front straight and Zinfandel Bart was in no danger going down to the finishing line a clear and dominant winner by 4 lengths in a slick 30.50 for the 530m journey. His sister held on well second while Earthworm Jim ran a handy third followed by the luckless Nike Apache back in fourth.
Zinfandel Bart was the most inexperienced greyhound in the series but showed great improvement and class being undefeated through the heat and semi finals, taking out the feature final in dominant style and claiming the $25,000 first prize. “ Bart” has now had 6 starts for 4 wins with career prizemoney of almost $32,000.
This event was introduced in recognition of former Adelaide Greyhound Racing Club Chairman, Brian Johnstone who passed away 13 years ago. Brian was a true ambassador and great administrator for SA greyhound racing. He was involved with Angle Park from the early 1970’s and served many years on the Adelaide Greyhound Racing Club Committee.