A Worthwhile Visit to Gawler
A visiting trainer had things go his way when he recorded a win with his very first starter at Gawler greyhounds on Tuesday.
In the My Ani-Mall Pet Foods Stake over the 400m trip, Superbrat in box 2 was the first away to lead from Kev Bale (1) and Bruce Da Britt (5). Down the back, Superbrat was able to open up a handy break of some 3 lengths over Kev Bale, with Kipsang (7) running into the picture along the rails.
In the home straight, Superbrat went on to win by ¾ of a length in the time of 23.04 secs, from Kev Bale, who made it a real contest in the final stages. Kev Bale was second for Lisa Rasmussen and Kipsong was third for Tony Rasmussen, both of Murray Bridge.
Superbrat is trained by Darren Henderson at Apsley, which is just over the border from Naracoorte. Darren said that he had not intended to race at Gawler but trainer Ben Hughes from Naracoorte, had suggested in was an idea worth considering. So with owner Maurie Kiley in agreement, it was decided to try out the idea. Superbrat had previously been trained by Maurie, but by a set of circumstances, Darren was asked to be the trainer. Shortly after joining his kennel, Darren said that Superbrat had been bitten by a white tailed spider, and was therefore off the scene in recovery mode for a lengthy spell.
Darren has been in the industry for 15 years, having followed his father’s interest in the sport. Being located at Apsley with no track nearby and with 8 greyhounds in work, Darren said if you are in greyhounds you have to be prepared to travel, which he is. It worked out to be a worthwhile trip to Gawler as apart from the prizemoney, Superbrat started at what Darren thought was surprisingly big odds of $16. With that result, Darren thought that he would be likely to return to contest further races.
The results for the day were evenly spread among the trainers, with no-one going home with more than the one winner.
Gawler racing continues every Tuesday afternoon, with a Sunday twilight meeting on the 18th and a Friday afternoon on 23rd August.