Air-Freight ban forces NZ Sprint Champion out of The Nationals
The 2024 NZ National Sprint Champion, Caterpie Bale, has been forced to withdraw from the Group 1 National Distance Championship final at Angle Park, South Australia, due to air-freight travel bans.
Caperpie Bale’s NZ trainer, Craig Roberts, has confirmed that although originally granted an exemption to fly to Australia, that exemption was later revoked by the airline and Caterpie Bale will be unable to take her place in the Group 1 Angle Park final.
Greyhound Racing South Australia (GRSA) revealed that, “On Tuesday, this greyhound (Caterpie Bale) was booked to travel for the National Championships, however, that is no longer possible. ”
According to a GRSA statement, “All remaining avenues have been exhausted to get this greyhound to SA without success.”
The air freight problem confronting the NZ National Sprint Champion was flagged as soon as all state qualifying National Sprint Championship finals were run, but Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) and trainer Craig Roberts, were still optimistic they could navigate the travel bans to race in the SA Group 1 final.
Unfortunately, optimism is not a valid currency when dealing with woke Airline brands, and Roberts has been forced to officially abandon any hope of racing Caterpie Bale in the 2024 National Sprint Championship.
In a second blow for greyhound fans, any prospect of getting the best possible replacement following Caterpie Bale’s forced withdrawal have also been dashed.
The best possible outcome would have been for the second highest ranked wildcard greyhound, Flying Zulu (VIC), to take Caterpie Bale’s place.
In a blow to common sense, Greyhound Clubs Australia (GCA) and GRSA have since confirmed that they intend to ignore Flying Zulu’s claims to a spot in the final, and instead they have formally added local SA sprinter Where’s Poppy to the final field.
GCA, who are responsible for drafting the race conditions for the full National Sprint Championship race series, have said that “Under the National Conditions for this series, the greyhound (Caterpie Bale) has been replaced by the next qualified greyhound from the host State.”
That greyhound is the Kirin Corby-trained Where’s Poppy, who finished second to SA National Sprint Champion Chapel Road.
2024 SA National Sprint Championship – Chapel Road (30.49) T: Kiah Hurley
Hopefully in years to come, GCA will establish a more common sense approach to The Nationals race conditions and replace any withdrawals prior to the final field box draw with the next highest ranked wildcard, as opposed to the beaten brigade from the home state qualifying final.
The host state (SA) also provides the reserves for the 2024 Group 1 National Sprint Championship final, and they are as follows:
- Fantastic Spike – Liz Chegia – SA – 3rd SA National Sprint Championship
- Adhana Rico – Cameron Forshaw – SA – 4th SA National Sprint Championship
The official final field for the 2024 Group 1 National Sprint Championship to be run at Angle Park, Adelaide, South Australian on Saturday night, August 24, is:
2024 Group National Distance Championship Final
- Chapel Road – Kiah Hurley – SA
- Where’s Poppy – Kirin Corby – SA
- Cluster – Selena Zammit – QLD
- Miss Envy – Krystal Shinners – WA
- Uncle Tommy – Steve Withers – WA
- Sweet Sundown – Patrick Ryan – TAS
- Smooth Plane – Tom Dailly – VIC
- Might Have Been – Minnie Finn – NSW
- Fantastic Spike – Liz Chegia – SA
- Adhana Rico – Cameron Forshaw – SA
Reserves:
The box draw for the 2024 Group 1 National Sprint Championship final will be performed later today (Friday, August 16) at Adelaide Oval at 1:45 PM local time (2:15 PM AEST).