Group One Winner Returns Home To The Gardens
It's not often you see a Group One winner going around at a mid-week meeting, but that's the case this Wednesday night at The Gardens, with Lochinvar Marlow resuming following his fifth in the Sky Racing Topgun at The Meadows last month.
The recent Group One Rock Energy Paws Of Thunder victor, a winner of nine from 17 at The Gardens circuit, will tackle Wednesday night's $1,700-to-the-winner open class event in preparation for an assault on the Group Three Christmas Gift and Gosford Gold Cup, which are both looming large.
A strong close to the year will further enhance the son of Bombastic Shiraz claims towards consideration for the Betfair 2010 NSW Greyhound of the Year Award, along with the likes of Blue Lorian, Elite Blue Size and the recently retired Smooth Fancy.
Whilst one would assume, given his credentials, that the Robert Smith prepared speedster has a mortgage on The Recorder Best 8, but his task has been made easier with only three competitors still in the race after scratchings have taken a toll on the field size.
Jeff Jaeger's smart race bitch Marinas Limerick is still engaged to race, and from a suitable wide draw, will make her presence felt. A last start winner at Gosford in 30.29s, Marina's Limerick has run 29.80s at The Gardens, and her runs before last week's Gosford success had been full of merit.
While veteran chaser Chevy Assassin is resuming from a month on the sidelines. The son of Whisky Assassin has won nine of 19 starts at The Gardens, including his last two in 29.82s and 30.30s respectively.
The race promises to be a keenly sought after affair, despite the smallness of the field, on a great night's racing, with most eyes sure to be on the anticipated return of Group One winner Lochinvar Marlow.
Two other runners that will attract plenty of attention on the night are litter brothers Sam I Am and Yella Mustard from the powerful Jason MacKay kennel. The pair are full relations to the outstanding bitch, Smart Betsy and are closely related to Hall of Famer, Paua To Burn and Group One winner and now top sire, Bit Chili.
Sam I Am has drawn the red box in race three, the Tooheys New Stake over 400 metres, while Yella Mustard will jump from box six in the following race, the NCA maiden over the 515 metres.
Another interesting race on the program is race nine, The Greyhound Recorder Maiden over the short course 400m.
Promising stud proposition Knocka Norris is the sire of four of the eight chasers set to line-up, a feat that demonstrates the influence he is starting to have on the breeding ranks, particularly in the Hunter region.
There are 10 quality races on Tuesday night's card, covered by Sky Racing1, but the best way to catch all the excitement is by being at The Gardens. ‘Edens' restaurant is open with great food at reasonable prices, right on top of the action. Bookings can be made on (02) 49515842.
You can bet live on tonight's bumper meeting at The Gardens at Sportsbet or Iasbet with the first race of the program scheduled to kick off at 7.02pm AEDT