Trebles & Doubles At Melton Coursing
With the weather forecast looking good we arrived at Melton ready for another great days coursing and that was exactly what we got. Ok so things were a bit chilly first up, 4 degrees when I hoped out of the car, but once we all got moving the clothing layers started coming off. It was great to see so many new faces to our sport and everyone catching up at the first meeting for the Melton Coursing Club for the 2012 season. Also having 10 events to look forward to with NO scratchings, we were not going to be disappointed.
First up was the Western Saws Cup, this field was pretty hot with last year's NCAV Derby winner and the 2011 Werribee Cup winner set to take to the grass, some close coursing was the result. Russ and Jackie McRae were again going home victors when Manx Missile went on his fantastic form to go on to take the major prize, from Steve Burke's Roland's Hope.
Next up was the All Aged Stake which saw the first of our doubles victories for the day when Stuart Mills' Only Bluffing went on to keep Victoria proud with his final victory over Kato trained by Ron Parry from Bridgewater, South Australia. Sorry boys but really hope to see you back later in the season. Stuart was also successful with Scavenger Hunt going on to win the mixed puppy event a little later in the program.
The four Maiden stakes were as well contested as the nominations we received for these four events, the Dawn James Memorial Bitch Maiden was taken out by Zimmer unfortunately in uncontested circumstances with the withdrawal of Gary Peach's Inventory due to injury. The Bitch Maiden No. 2 resulted in Ruby's Cube for Amanda Clayton going to past the post in front in her final against Kevin Plunkett's Miss Domino. The Dawn James Memorial Dog Maiden brought up a first win at a coursing meeting for David & Toni Jones winning with Federation which I am sure made the trip home to Devon Meadows a happy one. Newman's County went on to win the Dog Maiden 2 for Nicole Stanley from Portland, bringing up one half of the second double for the day proving to have the polish on Hard Sell who is trained by a local club volunteer N Barnes which I believe is his first coursing dog so onwards and upward from here .
Our puppies again showed that they will be forces to be reckoned with in the future and again the Dalton camp went home smiling with a our third training double for the day with Be Good Billy & Quincy proving too good in their respective events. Kiarni Miss went on to provide the second half of Nicole Stanley's double to the Portland trainer who we all know is no stranger to coursing.
Congratulations to the Melton Club on a very well run meeting and I am sure we are all looking forward to returning in July when they host the Werribee Cup and then the major for the puppies this season hosting the NCAV Victorian Derby & Oaks in August.
I must make mention of our fantastic nominations for this meeting having received 113 in total from 48 different trainers, top effort guys and girls. An awesome result so early in the season. Really looking forward to seeing you all again at our future meets.
On a somewhat disappointing note, the picnic meeting that was scheduled early in the season for the Victoria Coursing Club (VCC) which has relocated to Newstead will not be conducted. There still needs to be some work performed on the coursing track and the club's committee are focusing on ensuring that the track will be right for their meeting schedule in August.
Our next meeting is back to Lang Lang who are staging the GOTBA's coursing day on Sunday 17th June. Hope to see you all there.
Melton Coursing Results
EVENT 1. WESTERN SAWS CUP.
Winner: Manx Missile (Where's Pedro X Special Sign) Runner Up: Roland's Hope (Pure Octane X Proven Babe).
EVENT 2. MELTON PRODUCE ALL AGED STAKE.
Winner: Only Bluffing (Bombastic Shiraz X I'm All In) Runner Up: (Black Enforcer X Chatanika).
EVENT 3. DAWN JAMES MEMORIAL BITCH MAIDEN.
Winner: Zimmer (Surg Lorian X Senza Nome) Runner Up: Inventory (November Fury X Bombastic Peach).
EVENT 4. QLS OILS MAIDEN BITCH STAKE NO 2.
Winner: Ruby's Cube (Shanlyn Prince X No End) Runner Up: Mis Domino (Solve The Puzzle X Mirvle Maid).
EVENT 5. DAWN JAMES MEMORIAL MAIDEN DOG STAKE.
Winner: Federation (Texas Gold X Mum's Legacy) Runner Up: Crafty Shiraz (Bombastic Shiraz X Crafty Witch).
EVENT 6. MASTER CUT BUTCHERS MAIDEN DOG STAKE NO 2,
Winner: Newman's County (Slater X Roses for Nicki) Runner Up: Hard Sell (Mandagery Man X Flowing Reaction).
EVENT 7. MELTON GREYHOUND CLUB DERBY TRIAL 1.
Winner: Quincy (Cosmic Rumble X Cyclone Babe) Runner Up: Why Not Albert (Shanlyn Prince X Why Not Molly).
EVENT 8. GARRY THOMAS DERBY TRIAL 2.
Winner: Be Good Billy (Knocka Norris X Billie Gene) Runner Up: Al Moran (Brett Lee X Special Sign).
EVENT 9. WHIPPET ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA OAKS TRIAL 1.
Winner: Kiarni Miss (Big Daddy Cool X Sekula Star) Runner Up: Ready To Shine (Bombastic Shiraz X Ready To Star).
EVENT 10. TGS MIXED PUPPY STAKE.
Winner: Scavenger Hunt (Where's Pedro X Miss Match) Runner Up: Full Of Bubbles (Velocette X Elite Love).