AGRC/GRSA Auction Final
After the last few weeks Barry Stewart must think, how easy is this training caper? Two weeks ago his greyhound Waterloo Kate won the Group 3 Howard Ashton final and last night Springvale Choix took out the AGRC/GRSA Auction final at Angle Park.
Barry only trains a couple of greyhounds at any one time so to capture two feature race victories within 3 weeks with 2 different greyhounds is an outstanding training performance.
Under cold and wet skies Springvale Choix was sent out one of the main favourites along with Barwell Boy for Kirin Corby and Flying Ellen for Troy Murray. As the start was affected Barwell Boy from box 2 and Bushiri from the inside box for Jamie Quinlivian pressed hard for the early lead to the first turn with Bushiri just gaining the upper hand. Springvale Choix after being last to move from box 4 quickly found a spot in behind the two leaders and was looking a major threat. Down the back straight it was a great charge with Bushiri and Barwell Boy in a stirring tussle while Springvale Choix who can rocket home beginning to make his move. The rest of the field struggled to make ground in the conditions as the leaders settled down to fight it out. Turning for home Barwell Boy had got the better of Bushiri however Springvale Choix was quickly on the scene and raced away for an emphatic victory. He went onto win by 1 ½ lengths in a solid 30.16 ahead of Barwell Boy while Bushiri battled on well for third a further 3 ½ lengths away.
Springvale Choix is localy bred by Richard Stasiak and is out of Magic Sprite and Bon Choix . He is owned by Barry in partnership with Gavin Harris.
The Auction final was for those greyhounds that were purchased through the 2016 Greyhound Auction held at Angle Park and is a culmination of almost 2 years preparation for these greyhounds by their owners and trainers in making tonight’s feature final.
Springvale Choix was purchased by Barry Stewart for $2,750 at the 2016 Auction sales. He put him in the sales and was able to buy him back and now has the record of 6 wins and 8 placings from 20 starts and prizemoney just over $23,000.
The Auction was reintroduced in 2014 and with the continued support of the Adelaide Greyhound Racing Club, owners and breeders there will be another Auction at Angle Park in October later this year. Under a different format there will be no race series attached however pups, performed greyhounds and brood bitches will likely be auctioned.