Fear To Tread bloomed brightest in Friday's Spion Rose
Peter Fenemor • December 9th, 2024 1:43 PM
Friday’s pair of Hatrick Group1 races were run and won in completely contrasting fashion.
Fear To Tread picked the start perfectly from trap-six, resulting in her emphatic pace-making victory in the $50,000 Spion Rose.
Two-races later the consistent stayer Grande Vue Ace had to overcome a large degree of jostling and buffering prior to her flicking on her turbo-chargers which carried her to her stunning victory in the $30,000 Wanganui Distance.
It was another hugely successful evening at the ‘office’ for the Lisa Cole training machine. The seven winners prepared from the Cole located Palmerston North kennels during the evening was highlighted by Fear To Tread’s free-flowing Group 1 win.
It was a tightly compacted field that raced into the first turn in the Spion Rose final – something had to give, which occurred with the claims held by numerous runners effectively being eliminated
Fear To Tread placed herself in the early lead, resulting in her gapping the field when racing down the back straight, then reaching the judge holding a two-length margin over her rivals after 29.90 seconds of frenetic 520m chasing.
The Dave and Jean Fahey trained recent NZ Cup winner One Hot Bandit unwound powerfully which saw him snatching the runners-up prize when leading home last year’s Spion Rose second place-getter Claws In Zorro for Matt Roberts by a nose margin.
“Fear To Tread held a straight line from the traps and she just got across the inside dogs and from there her natural pace carried her through. It’s impossible to come from behind when a hotdog like her is setting up a quick pace in front.
“There was a tremendous amount of pressure placed onto the inside dog and something had to give, which happened.
“Look, Fear To Tread has got serious pace as we saw a few races ago when she ran the paws off He’s All Go. She has come back from early career injuries and she’s now putting it all together,” advised Brendon Cole.
Long time and successful kennel client Craig Rendle manages Fear To Tread’s owning Funky’s Boy’s syndicate which includes his mate Mark Page and his family.
“I’ve said to Mark all the way through that Fear To Tread is capable of winning a big race. Pre-race I said to him that she wouldn’t be caught if she led into the first turn. I was confident when she led into the back straight,” advised Rendle.
Fear To Tread, along with her litter sister Russian Ahead (who was luckless in the Spion Rose), races at the Cambridge Raceway this Thursday afternoon (Race 11).
Grande Vue Ace outstays her opposition
The Bob Pringle trained Grande Vue Ace suffered from a fair degree of jostling when racing into the first turn resulting in her being relegated back to settle in the rear portion of the field. She had two rivals behind her when the first 305m split was reached in 17.85 by the pace-making Bit Of Bacardi.
Going down the back straight Grande Vue Ace improved into a midfield position from where she raced along the rail, racing in fourth possie rounding the final turn.
Turning in for the run home Grande Vue Ace unleashed a paralyzing finish which carried her to her 43.13 victory, landing that by a 2.25 length margin.
Boom Lateral was absolutely massive, when after being checked back to the rear early on, he fairly rocketed home to nail his second placing for his conditioner Rob Roper.
The Matt Roberts trained Maestro Mojito gamely lunged into third for Matt Roberts another length behind and in doing so cut out his pace-making litter and kennelmate Bit Of Bacardi from that placing.
“It is a huge thrill to win this race again. The little girl does it all by herself – she’s a phenomenal greyhound whom I’m so proud off. She treated her Group 1 opposition with utter contempt,” commented Pringle.
It was the second time that Grande Vue Ace has won this race with her career record now standing at 18 wins and 41 minor placings from her 94 races amounting to $159,485 in stake earnings.
Group 2 heat action features in Invercargill
Group 2 heat action features during tomorrow’s Southland meeting with three-heats for the Far South Challenge to be contested over 457m.
There is a fair sprinkling of Dave and Jean Fahey prepared greyhounds spread throughout those heats.
The recent Group 1 295m Galaxy Sprint winner Opawa Marsh has drawn the one trap in the first heat (M3, R8) for the Fahey’s who are seeking their fifth training success in this event.
Stuck Throttle recently lowered the Addington 520m track record when recording his swift 29.69 time, which he backed up with his stylish 29.81 Thursday 520m win for trainer Garry Cleeve.
Matt Roberts lines up the recent NZ Cup runner-up Let Him Cook. He brings the fastest 25.68 457m winning field time into this heat
The second heat (M7, R1) features the former Addington 520m track record holder Opawa Hugo for the Fahey’s who stylishly warmed up for this task when delivering his strong 29.81 Addington Thursday win. He travels south with the field best 25.62 winning 457m time.
Kennelmate Very Rarely races consistently at Ascot Park. He was cut back late in his last race here by a half-length margin by race opponent here Diamond Falcon who won that 457m race in 25.93 for his conditioner Malcom Grant.
Holding the draw advantage here is the Cleeve prepared Who’s Jealous via trap-one. He races generously at this venue.
Heat 3 (M7, R2) sees the Fahey trained Sefton Heights drawing ideally out in trap-eight. He’s capable of swooping around the outer from there.
Zestful is capable of using his trap-one draw for Cleeve to his advantage, while his kennelmate Jay Walker is a recent Addington 520m Group 1 winner.
Matt Roberts is travelling south with his bold Friday Spion Rose third place-getter Claws In Zorro. The current Invercargill Cup title holder heads back to the venue where he has won six of his nine 457m races.
Photograph at the top of the page: Friday’s Spion Rose winner Fear To Tread. Credit: Wanganui GRC
