New Australian Prizemoney Record for High Earner
The aptly-named High Earner has re-written the record books, becoming Australia's highest prizemoney earner after taking out the Group 1 Macro Meats Temlee over 525 metres at The Meadows on Saturday night.
The victory propelled the Kel Greenough-trained chaser's prizemoney to $553,795 – over $20,000 more than Rapid Journey's long-standing former record of $530,995.
With the rich MTD Australian Cup series heating up next Saturday night, the son of Collision and Double Guess has an opportunity to extend his peerless stakemoney levels even further.
Jumping from box seven, High Earner sped to the early lead and gave nothing else a chance, streaking clear to win in a Best of Night 29.73, after sensational splits of 5.08 and 17.66. The Christine Robartson-owned chaser finished three and a half lengths clear of Perfect Fancy ($8.00) – his fourth placing in a Group 1 final – while reserve Up And Away ($11.70) was a further length and a quarter away in third. Favourite Kilty Lad ($1.80) – who found trouble on the first turn – finished fourth.
Greenough was in awe of High Earner (a greyhound who was away from the racetrack for six months last year to undertake stud duties) after going one better than his second in the 2010 version of the Group 1 Temlee behind Fedex.
“What a thrill it is to win this race with High Earner, and to be part of a greyhound who breaks the prizemoney record. The prizemoney levels in Victoria continue to go forward in leaps and bounds. I'd really like to thank owners Dave and Christine Robartson. This dog was going to be retired, so to come back from stud duties and win two Group 1 races is amazing.”
From 64 starts, High Earner has been first past the post on 32 occasions, and looks one of the leading contenders for the Group 1 MTD Australian Cup, with the semi finals taking place next Saturday night.
The Meadows also announced that next year's Group 1 Macro Meats Temlee will be worth $75,000 to the winner, while the Group 2 Rookie Rebel and Group 2 Zoom Top will be worth $40,000 to the winner from 2012.
The stage is set for a brilliant night of racing at The Meadows this Saturday night in the build up to the 53rd running of Australia's biggest race The Australian Cup.
After the placed runners the field finished in the following order: Kilty Lad ($1.80), He Knows Uno ($22.60), Octane Show ($18.70), Enry Walt ($11.60) and Gold Heritage ($15.80).
The Temlee became part of the Australian Cup Carnival in 2003 listed are the past winners. 2003 Excite Ability, 2004 Hotline Hero, 2005 Paua To Burn, 2006 Closing Argument, 2007 Slater, 2008 Whippy's Image, 2009 El Galo and 2010 Fedex.