Lily Pad claims the EASTAR Match Race Series
Sunday night saw the running of the first ever match race series at Gawler greyhounds, when the Eastar Match Races were conducted. The Series is normally run at Angle Park, but as an extensive upgrade of that track is about to commence, the Series was transferred to Gawler.
Entry to the Series was for those greyhounds that ran the fastest times recorded over a qualifying period at Gawler. There was also an opportunity for greyhounds to try and better their times by running a solo time trial last week. The eight greyhounds were then matched into four pairs to race against each other, with the overall winner being the greyhound that was able to run the fastest time on the night.
Race 1 saw Lily Pad defeat Burning Nitro, while in the second race, Velocity Bottino was too fast for Threaten. In the third race, Stress The Point accounted for All Show, and in the final event Barbados Express was too good for Ned’s Choice. The times recorded were then assessed, resulting in a very tight finish. Lily Pad, trained by Lisa Rasmussen, was declared the overall winner, with the fastest time of 30.77 secs, to just edge out Barbados Express for Ben Rawlings, running 30.78 secs, while Stress The Point ran 30.79 secs to take third placing for Nicole Price. So in a very tight finish, the three runners finished with just 0.02 secs between them, and to further emphasise the close result, the next two runners finished within another 0.10 secs margin.
The winning trainer Lisa Rasmussen, who is also a member of the Razza Syndicate of family members, was very happy with the result. This race has only been run twice previously, with husband Tony winning the inaugural event, giving the team two wins out of three. Lisa is a big supporter of the race concept, as it gives every greyhound a chance to show their true ability, and build their confidence, without having any race interference.
Lily Pad had finished the six fastest of the qualifiers, and Lisa had been a little concerned that others may qualify in a faster time just before the Series, to deny her the run. However that didn’t happen, but Lisa confided that she felt nervy after winning the first race and then having to wait three more races of nail biting times, before being declared the winner. Lily Pad has now won eleven races in Lisa’s care after purchasing the black female in September 2020. Purchased by Lisa as a future breeding proposition, Lily Pad has certainly shown with her ability that she has every chance to be successful in that role.
There are major race day changes coming to Gawler during the temporary closure of Angle Park. Racing at Gawler will continue on Sunday nights, but there will be extra meetings on a Tuesday and Friday afternoon, and every alternate Saturday morning. There will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy great racing at Gawler.