Unholy Reign takes out 2023 Leigh Rogers final
Unholy Reign claimed the feature event on the Angle Park card, winning the Grade 6 Leigh Rogers series final on Thursday night.
The Leigh Rogers series was named for former Greyhound Racing SA Food and Beverage manager Leigh Rogers, who passed away in 2016 after a short battle with an aggressive cancer.
Last night was the seventh running of the Leigh Rogers event, with previous winners including Victa Damian, Coorong Lucy and Fly For Trix.
Five heats were run last week which set up an excellent final with several winning chances in the field but it was the Robyn Mackellar greyhound Unholy Reign which produced an excellent performance to take out the race.
From box three, Unholy Reign showed all its early speed and was able to surge to the lead and from there it was never under threat enjoying clear running out in front and winning by two lengths in 30.83 just 0,01 outside of its personal best.
Bundy Baz was able to finish off strongly into second place from Adrian Chevalier while Tex’s Ear for Ben Rawlings was third.
Speaking on the dais post-race, Mackellar said she was thrilled with the performance of Unholy Reign who improved its record to four wins to go with two seconds and two thirds from just nine starts.
“I knew she could lead,” Mackellar said post-race.
“She is a very good box dog and she did everything right tonight.”
The presentation was conducted with the Rogers family on course with Mackellar generously giving Leigh’s daughters Emily, Chloe and Maddison the trophy named in their father’s honour.
Elsewhere on the Angle Park card, Ben Rawlings enjoyed a fantastic night collecting four winners on the 12-race card.
The first was impressive maiden winner Riot Rooster who was making his second career start and first over the 530m journey. Jumping from box five, Riot Rooster fought through to the early lead and powered away down the back opening up and winning by nearly 16 lengths in a slick 30.70.
My Khaleesi made it back to back winners in race three for Rawlings, backing up its maiden win last week with a 31.03 win in the grade six race. Another impressive youngster in Bandit Hazel made it three winners for Rawlings taking out the grade six race over the 595m in 34.82 while Doonan completed the quartet with a 30.72 win from box three in the masters event.
Also on the card, Adhana Rico was able back up its Gawler Gold Cup victory with a quick turnaround on Thursday night in winning the grade 2/3/4 race on the evening.
Getting away only fairly from box two, Adhana Rico made ground around the back straight following Springvale Dave through around the turn before powering past it to win by half a length in 30.53.
Other winners on the night included Dash Of Blue who returned to the 595m distance with victory in 34.25 while Zoe Rose for Tony Lagana won the grade 4/5 race winning an entertaining battle with Where’s Poppy in 30.69.