Gawler Sunday Night Return
With the closing of the main Angle Park track for four months to enable a major track upgrade to occur, the races normally run there have been transferred to Gawler and Murray Bridge. As a result, Sunday’s night racing at Gawler was boosted by many greyhounds that would normally race on there on a Thursday night.
The Rasmussen family made the most of the opportunity, training four winners on a program that saw very fast times recorded. They didn’t have to wait long, as they scored a win in the first race, a Grade 6 531m event, which saw Barely’s Era (4) and Stimulus package (5) vying for the early lead. Barely’s Era took over the running, before Victa Hadyn (2) was able to work his way through the field, coming from last position. Victa Hadyn went to the front, to win by nearly seven lengths in a fast 30.75 secs, with Barely’s Era finishing second for Colin Rana of Macdonald Park, and Salt and Pepper (8) running on to be third for John Sargent of Lewiston.
It was an impressive run from Victa Hadyn, which was having only its fifth race start and its first at Gawler, to sensibly come from last position through the field, and run such a good time. He was the first in the Fernando Bale and Victa Victoria litter to win on the night, which set the scene for littermate Victa Grosso later on. Victa Grosso emulated Victa Hadyn’s result, winning by a similar margin, but running slightly faster on 30.73 secs.
The two “Victa” dogs are from a litter that was bred and reared by Ron and Joan Schadow at Victor Harbor, and are raced by the My Four Girls syndicate, which comprises their daughters, Carol, Susan, Kerry and Robyn. The whole litter is trained by Tony Rasmussen at Murray Bridge, who reported that at this early stage, from a large litter of 12 dogs, eight have already won. Tony said they weren’t the easiest of litters to rear and handle, but didn’t find that an issue, as they looked like being very successful.
Tony’s other winner for the night was Shadow Burner, which finished strongly, to win the 643m event for the night. That gave Tony three winners on the program, and the total for the family went to four when his wife Lisa won with all the way leader, Lily Pad.
Over the next four months, racing at Gawler will be on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, with the normal Sunday night meetings. Fortnightly there will also be racing on alternate Saturday mornings, starting on 1st May, so join us for great racing at Gawler.
Pic: L to R; Tony Rasmussen, Carol and Scott Hondow, with Victa Hadyn
Kurt Donsberg Photography