Street Of Dreams wins 2023 Listed Chief Havoc Cup at Gunnedah
Hard finishing Street Of Dreams won his first black-type race final on Sunday, taking out the 2023 Listed Chief Havoc Cup at Gunnedah.
The Jay Opetaia-trained chaser had to run down the odds-on favourite to get the job done, in 30.30 seconds.
The Listed Chief Havoc Cup race series celebrates one of Gunnedah's local greyhounds and one of Australia's great greyhounds of the past, Chief Havoc, considered by many to be the best ever Australian greyhound racer.
Red Hot Frankie was sent to the boxes a ‘red-hot' favourite paying -142.86 with greyhound betting apps, after qualifying fastest for the $40,000 to-the-winner final, and drawing box two.
Jumping cleanly from box two, the daughter of Feral Franky and Little Nangar, was able to quickly gain the lead in the rich final, and heading down the back straight looked the winner in running.
But Street Of Dreams, who had finished fast last week in the heats to run second behind I'm Loving It, had handled the box eight draw to perfection; staying wide through the corner and circling the other runners.
Just as it looked like Red Hot Frankie had established a 2.5 length break on the field, Street Of Dreams maintained the wide run and quickly went up to the Ray Smith trained chaser.
Despite Red Hot Frankie fighting back hard, Street Of Dreams was able to maintain the run and win by a length in 30.30, with Embrace running on well for third, a further 1.25 lengths away.
While Red Hot Frankie dominated the betting with greyhound bookmakers, Street Of Dreams had been sent out on the third line of betting at +750.
The only other two dogs under double figure greyhound odds for the listed final were Chief Havoc Cup heat winners, Spring Patriot (+340) and I'm Loving It (+800).
2023 Listed Chief Havoc Cup (Gunnedah, 527m) – Street Of Dreams (30.30) T: Jay Opetaia
Street Of Dreams made the final of the Group 3 The Brother Fox at Dubbo at his only other black-type final race start.
The son of Aston Dee Bee and Holly Wade has won 12 of 44 starts, with 13 placings,
The 2023 Listed Chief Havoc Cup final first prize of $40,000 takes Street Of Dreams' career earning to $107,280.
Trainer Jay Opetaia was delighted with the win.
“It is a massive thrill to win the Chief Havoc Cup and on par with Agland Luai getting into the final of the Million Dollar Chase.
“The owners are mostly in Sydney and it is a bit of a drive to get to Gunnedah for them but they are over the moon.
“I'm still buzzing.
“It is the biggest win for the owners as well as me,” said Opetaia.
Despite the extremely lucrative prizemoney on offer for a listed greyhound race, the 2023 Chief Havoc Cup heats only attracted 22 nominations.
2023 Listed Chief Havoc Cup
2023 Chief Havoc Cup ResultsGunnedah527mListed$40,000 to-the-winnerSunday June 11 202330.30
|
|
| 1st |
8 Street Of Dreams
T: Jay Opetaia30.30 – $40,000
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| 2nd |
2 Red Hot Frankie
T: Ray Smith30.371 lengths $8,500
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| 3rd |
7 Embrace
T: Craig Chappelow30.462.25 lengths $5,500
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| 4th |
1 Spring Patriot
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| 5th |
3 Jeanie Cargo
T: Jamie Bush30.847.75 lengths
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| 6th |
5 Hurricane's Fury
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| 7th |
6 I'm Loving It
T: Craig Chappelow31.0711 lengths
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| 8th |
4 Canya Smurfette
T: Michelle Lill31.0811 lengths
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