First Feature Win For The Martin Clan
Rosevale couple Ricky and Sonia Martin were rewarded with their initial feature race victory at Tuesday's NWGRC meeting conducted at the Devonport Raceway when Cosmic Fire (Cosmic Rumble – Aspen Gold) was successful in the $4,000 Betfair Puppy Championship Final (452 metres).
“We had previously been placed with Capetown Annie in a feature race conducted in Hobart, but this is the first time that we have recorded a win,” Sonia explained this week.
“We were pleasantly surprised that additional stake money was made available for the event and to win the race gave us a big thrill.”
The daughter of prominent Tasmanian greyhound racing administrator Richard Stamford and his wife Jill, Sonia and her husband operate a small training establishment at Rosevale near Launceston and currently have a team of five in work.
They qualified three of the Cosmic Rumble – Aspen Gold litter (Mental As Ben and Leica Comet included) for Tuesday's feature and are confident that they will all eventually achieve fast class.
“The times that they are running indicate that they have a future, so we are looking forward to winning more races with them, which is particularly pleasing because we experienced problems with them when they were young,” Sonia explained.
Aspen Gold, now a seven-year-old, was given to the Martin's as a pup by Sonia's parents and this is her first litter.
By Bombastic Shiraz from the well performed bitch Capetown Tiger, the winner of 14 races, she was seen in the winners circle on only one occasion, but now may make amends in the breeding barn.
“We were doing other things and did not get around to breeding from Aspen Gold when she was retired from the race track, but are now pleased that we made the effort,” Sonia explained.
On Tuesday, Mental As Ben and race favourite Barnes Bay went helter skelter in the lead, but Cosmic Fire obtained a run inside them in the lane to snatch victory, paying the tidy dividend of $4.60 and recording a time of 26.05.
That victory was his third in only 10 lifetime outings and certainly indicative of bigger and better things in the future.
Meanwhile former jockey Patrick Hall, who prepares a small team at Old Beach on the Southern side of the Derwent River near Hobart, was seen in the winners circle on two occasions at the NWGRC meeting, providing him with a rare double.
The heavily supported Waratah Boy (Dyna Lachlan – Coulta Sky) set the ball rolling for Hall by winning the Seba Sheetmetal Juvenile (452 metres) in brilliant fashion.
Sent out at odds of $1.70, he stormed home to snatch victory within the shadows of the post in the time of 26.26 and in doing so made amends for several recent luckless placings.
Later in the programme Chinatown Lark ( Chinatown Lad – Larkhill Bess) provided Hall with the second leg of his double by taking out the Simon's Carpet One Grade 5 (452 metres), when making his Tasmanian debut.
Paying the handsome dividend of $9.20, the chaser recorded a time of 26.20 in defeating the highly rated Palooka (Dyna Lachlan – It's A She) and is another worth following in the immediate future.