Willow Wins the Golden Maiden Series Final
Sunday night greyhound racing took place at Gawler this week and we saw the running of the Gawler Golden Maiden Series Final. SA’s leading greyhound trainer Tony Rasmussen took out another feature final at Gawler when his greyhound Willow managed to win from box one. The week before Willow was successful in his heat when he ran a quick time of 31.25 from box five which naturally made him race favourite for the final when he drew box one. He hunted the rail very well into first turn and managed to hold the lead heading into back. He careered away to win by seven lengths and ran a time of 31.37 on a wet track to take out the final. He has now had the two career starts for two wins.
Trainer Tony Rasmussen was very impressed with the win. Tony stated “his trial on the Monday before the heats were really good. I think he is going to be a very handy dog overall”. He also said that he was “very proud about how he mustered up along the rail in the final”. Willow is owned by popular greyhound personalities Cameron and Yvonne Butcher. Tony stated “I’ve always had a long standing good relationship with Cameron and Yvonne”. When asked about future plans with Willow Tony stated “I’m going to give him a week off and take him back to Gawler. Then I’ll eventually take him to Angle Park”.
Trainer Vadim Roz also had a very big night on Sunday night. He scored a treble of winners. His first winner came in race one in the form of a dead heat when his greyhound Yarramundi Bee ran first along with Cooper Kyran who finished on level terms. Bodhi’s Bro Kai was Vadim’s second winner of the night and there was no dead heat to speak of here because he won by a length and a half. Bodhi’s Bro Kai has now won five in a row. His third and final winner was in race eleven when Luxury Rocks greeted the judge first and ran a time of 23.08. Scoring doubles on the night were trainers Tim Richards, Tony Rasmussen and Nicole Price.
Greyhound racing returns to Gawler on Australia Day this week during afternoon along with another Sunday night race meeting. Book a table at the Nixon’s Function centre and enjoy a fun time at the track.
Photo: Jackson Murray (Greyhound: Air Assault) Darrel Gaspari, Mike Wittholz, Tony Rasmussen (Greyhound: Willow), Bob May, Christine Costa (Greyhound: Ronny Jolie)
Credit: Kurt Donsberg Photography