The Golden Maiden at Gawler
Racing has returned to Gawler on a Sunday night, and the public were welcomed back on course for the first time, after some COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Sunday night saw the running of the Final of the time honoured Gawler Golden Maiden Series.
The Golden Maiden is run over the 531m distance as a Series , with two Heats being run the previous Sunday night, and the first 4 placegetters moving through to the Final. One of the heat winners, Victa Mikey, jumped well from box 3 and as they left the home straight, the dog had established a clear lead over Shantuii’s Ember (6) and Ninkasi (2). Shortly there was some tightening of the runners in the field, which saw Victa Buzz (5) sweep into second position. Victa Mikey opened up a good break of four lengths over his rivals and was travelling well, going on the score by just over 6 lengths in the time of 31.05 secs. Reserve runner from box 1, Queen Meares, ran on well along the rails to take second prize for Troy Murray of Lewiston, and Shantui’s Ember was third for Nathan Goodenough of Queenstown.
In winning, Victa Mikey made it two wins from the two starts, and is trained at Murray Bridge by Tony Rasmussen. The winning connections are the My Four Girls syndicate, managed by Kerry Braun, with all the four members, which includes Carol, Susan and Robyn, all daughters of Ron and Joan Schadow, who own the mother of the litter, Victa Victoria. The winner is impeccably bred as Victa Victoria was twice the SA Brood Bitch of the Year, something that her mother, Teelah , also achieved. Victa Victoria and Teelah also had successful careers on the race track, and with that impressive brood line, when added with top sire Fernando Bale, the result is not surprising.
From this current litter of twelve, four have now raced, with three of them already winning. The litter was described as “being very even”, with all of the littermates “showing something”. It was a very excited group of people after the race, with Carol explaining that all the family, including Ron and Joan’s grandchildren, had contributed in some way to the success of the litter. The owners had wanted to keep the litter together and so had sought out leading trainers Tony and Lisa Rasmussen for the task.
Carol summed up the win as “brilliant” and with such a talented litter, there is likely to be a lot more of those wins to come.
There is racing at Gawler every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday night, and with some COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, the public is welcome back at the track. Please book for Sunday nights at the Club on 8522-2935.
Pic: Kurt Donsberg Photography
Back; Tony Rasmussen, Mike Wittholz (Gawler GRC Chairman, Bob May (Gawler GRC Secretary), Lisa Rasmussen, Joan Schadow
Front: Ron Schadow with Victa Mikey