Power on the track - Gawler
With Port Adelaide currently in second spot of the AFL ladder, it is no surprise that a few of the team have an in-form greyhound as well.
In the Kingsford Hotel Mixed Stake over 531m, their runner, Cairnlea Layla jumped well from box 3 to lead out of the straight from Smash Crash (6) and Illium Bale (7). Down the back straight, Cairnlea Layla looked to be going strongly and had sped away to a handy lead of 5 lengths over Smash Crash and Senni Tony.
Despite having her first run at the track, Cairnlea Layla was never challenged and went on to score by 10 lengths in an excellent time of 30.52 secs. Smash Crash ran second for Steven Brook of Meadows and Senni Toni ran on for third for Colin Swain of Paralowie.
Cairnlea Layla is trained at Lewiston by Robyn Mackellar for the Little Things syndicate, which is managed by the Power coach, Ken Hinkley. Apart from Ken, the syndicate members include 5 players and also the breeder of Cairnlea Layla, Peter Hubbard. After the race Ken was a little camera shy, but Peter was happy to be snapped at his first visit to the track.
Peter lives in Mortlake in south western Victoria, and explained that he had entered the greyhound industry some 30 years ago. Peter was involved with the selection of Ken to his first coaching appointment at Mortlake and from that association, they decided to look at breeding their own stock. As a result, Delta Bale, the mother of Cairnlea Layla, was purchased. After some early racing in Victoria, Peter decided to send Cairnlea Layla to race in Adelaide under the care of Robyn. Since coming to SA, the fawn bitch has won 9 of her 16 starts, giving her an excellent career record of 12 wins and 5 placings from 25 starts. Peter is happy with how things are progressing, and has sent 2 more of his team for Robyn to prepare.
The first round of Heats was run for the 2014 Gawler Produce, with the Final to be run on Sunday 6th July. The winners of the Heats were the recent Classic winner Sidney’s Shadow, for Cameron Butcher, Punishment for Carole Scott, Regal Looper also for Cameron Butcher and Dakota Premier for Colin Simes. These greyhounds, along with the place getters will proceed to the semi- finals.
With work at the track imminent, there are some amendments to the racing schedule. The next meeting is a twilight on Sunday 6th July, with the next Tuesday afternoon meeting being on the 16th.