Full house for quality racing at the Bridge
The past week at the Bridge…
Wednesday (Straight Track)
A slightly unusual Wednesday meeting with cloudy conditions welcoming us for a pretty solid 12 race meeting.
The star of the day was Benny Rawlings with a sensational four winners from his team of eight that came down. Lady Luck got the ball rolling winning the second of the day with a simply brilliant first up run. She was able to give a couple of nice pups in Two Jabs and Spring Bonnie a start and a beating. A massive effort first up and a big tick for trainer and hound. Home bred Judy’s Chaos was strong in her 16.79 win before Victory Chase won the penultimate of the day. My Name’s Craig looked the good thing of the day and he won with a booming run home, spotting Watermelon Sugar a huge start and picking her up, to give Benny his fourth.
Derek Anderson picked up a winner with his new addition to the kennel in Roxy Patron. After doing most of her racing at the Mount and okay, she came to the straight for the first time. Roxy jumped well to find the arm and held on for a gritty victory which I am sure led to one happy trainer in Derek!
The fastest time of the day went to the rockstar - Aston Olenna, as he went a ridiculous 16.43, to win his race. No doubt he will be the leading contender for the straight track championships with the heats in 9 days time. Short course star - Patched took the time honours for the 350m run with his very sharp 19.03 all the way effort, defeating a couple of handy dogs in the process.
Dog to follow: Zipping Walter - We all know how good a short courser he is on the circle but his effort first up on the straight was just terrific. He really took it up to Aston Olenna who is an absolute bomb, and Walter could have made a case that he should have won. Not so sure the 350m trip will be in Walter’s favour when he lines up in the straight track championship, but no doubt he will be winning plenty over the 300m journey.
Sunday (1-Turn)
It was great to be back racing on Sunday night at the Bridge with a huge crowd in attendance.
Lauren Harris kicked off the night with her heavily backed first starter in Finniss Swish (Zambora Brockie x Wynburn Geri). The striking fawn dog only had a small field to deal with but the way he went about it from box 8 was very nice. He wasn’t the first to leave but mustered very quickly and burnt off the field before the turn, before going on for a 22.56, 8L romp. On what turned out to be a track that wasn’t conducive to fast times, that 22.56 stacked up very well on the night.
Photo: Finniss Swish swishes past the finish line
Credit: Kurt Donsberg Photography
We had a couple of doubles on the night, the first going to Gavin Harris with Dashing Jinx and Springvale Max who were both very good in their wins, beating hot favourites. Ozzie Chegia was happy to be back at the Bridge and his two kennel rockets both won in hard chasing efforts. Terrific Keith had to muster hard before sweeping around and burning off Springvale Slick, whilst Fantastic Victor drove hard into the first turn to hit the lead in his race, the first for Ozzie after his recent kennel change.
The sun was setting beautifully by race 8 for the race of the night, which saw Terrific Keith take on Weblec Whirl. Only 6 days ago Weblec Whirl took Terrific Keith’s track record at Angle Park off him, so their was a bit of spice in this contest. The boxes played some sort of role in the outcome of the race with Keith drawing low, but the way he went about it was first class. Springvale Slick crossed from box 8 but Terrific Keith landed right behind him. Keith hooked to the outside and picked up Slick in the straight before going on to win in a BON 22.31.
It was awesome to see Daniel Sun pick up another win, a dog who can notoriously struggle to get the head down at the right time, although on Sunday he won like a professional. Canya Thunder led the race and Daniel Sun was right on his hammer. From his last 7 starts, Daniel Sun had run 2nd six times and had a third, so their was a bit of doubt as to whether he would break that run, but in the straight he was going super and took over from the leader, before landing a very well deserved 22.77 victory. Well done Trengove’s and Danny boy!
An all round super night and no doubt the upcoming Sunday meetings will be a hit with the local crowd.
Dog to follow: Hard Case Watson - He had his second start for Steven Brook after moving over from NSW and the effort was terrific. After coming out fair, he really burnt up and took up from the leader, Swift Dominance (who has his share of ability). Hard Case Watson and Swift Dominance then went toe to toe in the straight before Watson lost the race in a bob of the heads. The effort though was just terrific however and he will be winning shortly.