King Con makes it successive wins at Gunnedah
King Con made it back-to-back wins at the Gunnedah 431m while improving on his personal best time over the trip on Thursday.
The Allan Syphers-trained dog went into the fifth-grade contest as a +180 prospect with greyhound betting sites, with Nevyl Hand-trained Creator +100 favourite.
Creator was looking to make it five from five at the track and trip, after running all wins in sub 25 times.
Jumping out of box four, King Con went out to sit second behind Kid Freeze (+380) as they turned the first corner.
As they turned the final bend into the home straight, King Con crossed to the centre of the track to run on from the alley to salute.
He beat home Kid Freeze by 4.25 lengths in 24.54, with race favourite Creator in third a further 4.25 lengths behind him.
Gunndeah 5th Grade 431m – King Con (24.54) T: Allan Syphers
The 24.54 winning time improved on his previous best of 24.69, clocked last week when beating Karinya Trombone home by four lengths in a fifth grade over the same track and trip, while also jumping from the same draw.
King Con started his career last September with Michella Mallia, with who he would race on 10 occasions for three wins, before moving to the Mark Giddings kennel in February this year.
On June 16, over the Geelong 460m trip, King Con failed to finish the race along with the Jeff Britton-trained Multi Mutt and David Geall-trained Ruff Shot.
This was King Con’s third marring offence and under GRV rules this is an automatic three month disqualification.
Remarkably, a bug in the Ozchase system allowed him to return early on August 31 over the 431m at Gunnedah, where he finished third but was disqualified with Jet Keen being elevated to the minor placings.
The anomaly was picked up post-race by NSW GWIC Stewards.
The steward’s report from the day reads:
Stewards inquired into the eligibility of the Greyhound King Con, which was placed 3rd in today’s race at Gunnedah in race number 4. It was established that the Greyhound had received a marring 3rd offence at Geelong on the 16th June 2023 which required the Greyhound to be stood down from racing for 3 month under Rule 127 (c), however due to a bug in the system of Oz Chase it allowed the nomination to go through although the expiration date had not been reached. King Con was subsequently disqualified from the race under Rule 117(1) and ordered the placing to be amended accordingly.
Giddings would train him for three starts before King Con moved to the Clinton Keith kennel before joining Syphers in late August.
The son of Mepunga Blazer and Quest For Glory has five wins and five minor placings from 17 career starts and has earned $12,560 in prize money for connections.