Greyhound Wrap: Fahey and Cole Kennels Shine
Peter Fenemor • September 30th, 2024 5:15 PM
It was the potent local kennels operated by Dave and Jean Fahey who clearly took out the training honours during last Thursday’s Addington meeting after being required to salute the judge following seven-races.
The Fahey’s qualified four-finalists for the Gr. 1 $30,000 2024 Springston Hotel South Island Champs, which is a race that they have trained ten previous winners.
Opawa Shirley led the way via her sharp 29.96 525m heat win. Sefton Heights finish third in the same heat, while the Fahey’s produced Bandit Dan to finish second in the first heat, while Nail It claimed third.
The Garry Cleeve trained Zestful really stepped up to the mark when he delivered his 30.05 heat win during his first taste of racing at the elite level. His litter brother Jay Walker also qualified after he wound up a 3.5 length second to Opawa Shirley.
Also advancing to Thursday’s final were the heat fourth pace-getters Nighthawk Jet (Matt Roberts) and Opawa Conan (Bruce Dann).
Opawa Shirley led the way via her sharp 29.96 525m heat win. Sefton Heights finish third in the same heat, while the Fahey’s produced Bandit Dan to finish second in the first heat, while Nail It claimed third.
The Garry Cleeve trained Zestful really stepped up to the mark when he delivered his 30.05 heat win during his first taste of racing at the elite level. His litter brother Jay Walker also qualified after he wound up a 3.5 length second to Opawa Shirley.
Also advancing to Thursday’s final were the heat fourth pace-getters Nighthawk Jet (Matt Roberts) and Opawa Conan (Bruce Dann).
Three 525m heats sorted out the finalists for the $30,000 2024 The Homekill Guys Canterbury Futurity.
Again it was the Fahey’s who paved the way with Opawa Schofer (30.03) and Opawa Linny (30.43) winning their respective heats. They have applied the finishing touches to 11 previous winners of this Gr. 2 event.
The other heat was strongly won by the Cleeve trained Charley Horse who stormed home to snatch his 30.10 win.
Another meeting highlight was the four 295m heats held to determine the finalists for the $10,000 2024 Suck It Up Canterbury Futurity Sprint.
Those heat winners were Mitcham Tim (17.05 - Ashley Bradshaw), Goldstar Koda (17.02 - Riley Evans), Very Rarely (17.13 - Fahey’s) and Wild Pansy (17.14 - Fahey’s).
Up at Hatrick on Friday it was the Lisa Cole prepared Big Time Bam who slipped around the first turn in clear racing air and he was never challenged afterwards when freewheeling to his effortless 6.25 length 30.15 C4/5 520m win.
There’s a saying in greyhound racing that box-speed is gold and it was Big Time Kenzie who illustrated what an asset that facet is when she exploded from trap-five which set up her bold 17.67 305m C4/5 win for Cole.
The brilliant greyhound He’s All Go trialed over 520m before the meeting, recording a quick 29.80 gallop. Just to recap, He’s All Go wasn’t able to get down to Addington for his South Island Champs heat owing to a Cook Straight ferry cancellation. He is now expected to race there on Thursday’s support card.
It was yet another dominant evening of chasing action for the Cole team when mentoring seven winners from the 11 races decided.
There was training success for Manaia trainer Peter Clark who produced Love Bug to win the last race C2/3 305m sprint, while earlier his daughter Mikayla trained Typical Arlo to win his C1 305m sprint. Mikayla was the winner of the recent inaugural Entain Greyhound Excellence award.
Manukau Sunday afternoon saw the Sean Codlin prepared Opawa Wine start the favourite in the main 527m event. She jumped into the early race lead, however she had the strong chaser Tin Lizzy sitting in her slipstream while racing down the back straight.
Approaching the final turn the Dave and Jean Fahey owned Tin Lizzy kicked around the outer and she came away to score a 30.73 win by a 1.75 length margin for her trainers Wayne and Tracey Steele.
The promising Lisa and Tracey Craik trained youngster Quintessential confirmed his talent by delivering his meet best 18.53 318m sprint win and in doing so landed his fifth victory in just his sixth race appearance.
Paddy Field held the rail throughout to secure her 18.60 open-class 318m win and in doing so secured the third training success during the afternoon for Glennis Farrell.
Last Thursday’s Waikato meeting celebrated last season’s leading canine athletes who raced at the Cambridge Raceway. The Wayne and Tracey Steele trained Motion Fire was named as the Waikato GRC’s 2023/24 Greyhound of the Year.
Previously the Christchurch GRC had announced Opawa Hugo, who is prepared by Dave and Jean Fahey, as the Canterbury 2023/24 Greyhound of the Year, while the 2023/24 Auckland Greyhound of the Year title was awarded to the exceptionally talented Lisa Cole trained greyhound He’s All Go.
Picture at the Top of the Page: Opawa Shirley at Addington. Credit: Supplied
