NZ Champion Know Defence out of National Distance amid travel woes
The 2024 NZ National Distance Champion, Know Defence, has been forced to withdraw from the Group 1 National Distance Championship final at Angle Park, South Australia, due to air-freight travel bans.
Know Defence’s NZ trainer, Garry Cleeve, has confirmed that any possibility of Know Defence taking his place in the final has been ruled out “due to flight arrangements to South Australia being unable to be accommodated by the courier.”
According to a Greyhound Racing South Australia (GRSA) statement, “All avenues were exhausted to get this greyhound to SA without success.”
The air freight problem confronting the NZ National Distance Champion was flagged as soon as all state qualifying National Distance Championship finals were run, but Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) and trainer Garry Cleeve, 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 Cleeve has been forced to officially abandon any hope of racing Know Defence in the 2024 National Distance Championship.
In a second blow for greyhound fans, any prospect of getting the best possible replacement following Know Defences forced withdrawal have also been dashed.
The best possible outcome would have been for the second highest ranked wildcard distance greyhound, Drill Sergeant (VIC), to take Know Defence’s place.
In a blow to common sense, Greyhound Clubs Australia (GCA) and GRSA have since confirmed that they intend to ignore Drill’s Sergeant’s claims to a spot in the final, and instead they have formally added local SA stayer Zipping Neutron to the final field.
GCA, who are responsible for drafting the race conditions for the full National Distance Championship race series, have said that “Under the National Conditions for this series, the greyhound (Know Defence) has been replaced by the next qualified greyhound from the host State.”
That greyhound is the Tim Aloisi-trained Zipping Neutron, who finished second to SA National Distance Champion Zinfandel Truce, beaten by 14.75 lengths.
2024 SA National Distance Championship – Zinfandel Truce (43.10) T: Gavin Harris
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 Distance Championship final, and they are as follows:
- Just Alfie – Lauren Harris – SA – 3rd SA National Distance Championship
- Dishonest – Craig Jaensch – SA – 4th SA National Distance Championship
The official final field for the 2024 Group 1 National Distance Championship to be run at Angle Park, Adelaide, South Australia on Saturday night, August 24, is:
2024 Group 1 National Distance Championship Final
- Zinfandel Truce – Gavin Harris – SA
- Zipping Neutron – Tim Aloisi – SA
- Valpolicella – Tony Zammit – QLD
- West On Boonie – Chris Halse – WA
- Raider’s Guide – Gary Fahey – TAS
- Aunt Virginia – John Paraskevas – VIC
- Ritza Piper – Joe Scerri – NSW
- Fahey’s Magic – Tyson Barton – NSW
- Just Alfie – Lauren Harris – SA
- Dishonest – Craig Jaensch – SA
Reserves:
The box draw for the 2024 Group 1 National Distance Championship final will be performed later today (Friday, August 16) at Adelaide Oval at 1:45 PM local time (2:15 PM AEST).