The Like Wildfire bubble burst emphatically with Friday night’s Richmond 622m failure
Last night at Richmond, greyhound racing fans would be forgiven for thinking they had been transported back to a time in the 1980's when the Richmond greyhound track bookmaker ring was thriving, and long odds-on favourites would get ‘rolled' on a weekly basis.
The boom was surely on Like Wildfire who was making his debut at Richmond after setting track records over the middle distances at Gosford and The Gardens.
The Michael Ivers bred, owned, and trained greyhound had been undefeated in six career race starts, albeit in lower grades and often in smaller fields.
Australian greyhound bookmakers took no chances with the son of Goodesy and Freaky Tears, sending him out the -454.55 favourite in the small field of five contesting the $7,200 to-the-winner GRNSW Middle Distance Series 622m race.
On the second line of betting was Zipping Digby at +450 who had won 11 of 20 career race starts.
Both greyhound betting favourites would ultimately finish last and second last, leaving greyhound punters on the floor.
The other three contestants all started double figure betting odds, including Like Wildfire's moderately performed litter sister, Pearly Tears (+3300); who had previously won just the one race.
At box-rise Like Wildfire appeared to want to go forward but baulked at taking the available run from box two before running on to heels.
The young greyhound then spent the rest of the race star gazing and avoiding other dogs.
There were no displays of the speed that had set records at Gosford and The Gardens, even against the moderate opposition who filled the placings on Friday night.
Richmond GRNSW Middle Distance Series (622m) June 23 2023 – Nando Banner (35.63) T: Barry Gibbons
The Barry Gibbons-trained Nando Banner won the race paying +1400, from Jane Curruthers' Angel Glow who was paying +1100 on greyhound betting apps.
The winners time is almost half a second behind the prevailing 35.16 622m track record at Richmond, which was set by Zipping Kansas in July 2022.
Like Wildfire's finishing time of 35.94, was 4.25 lengths behind the winner Nando Banner; and almost 12 lengths from track record pace.
A post race veterinary examination of Like Wildfire revealed no injuries.
Stewards swabbed the first three placegetters across the line, but oddly avoided swabbing both the two failed greyhounds who carried the majority of punter's money.
Christopher Perry, who was handling Like Wildfire for Michael Ivers, said that they felt the early contact in the race, being put to the back of the field, and still being a young dog learning had contributed to the disappointing performance.
Stewards declined to comment on whether they inspected the betting on the race.
Stewards stated they noted Perry's comments, and took no further action.
Greyhound punters are unlikely to be as forgiving.