Caption: The Ray Burman-trained Out Of Champagne crushes her rivals with a brilliant 30.33s maiden romp at Ipswich last month. Photo: Just Greyhound Photos.

By MIKE HILL

HIGHLY promising youngster Out Of Champagne is not only blessed with speed but she is also a talented hurdler.

Not the sight an owner wants to see, but Out Of Champagne showed her amazing  jumping skills in a drama-packed TAB Qld Emerging Origin Stars Final (520m) at Albion Park last month.

The blue brindle bitch (Out Of Range-Champagne Sally) was making a forward move when disaster struck on the first corner with two runners falling and Out Of Champagne was forced to hurdle one of the fallen runners ruining any chance of victory.

The sprinter, owned by Mary Burman and trained by husband Ray at Park Ridge, had gone into the $16,800 feature as the least experienced runner with just one run under her belt.

But what a run it was.

Out Of Champagne clocked a stunning BON 30.33s to crush her rivals by 13-and-a-quarter lengths in winning her maiden over 520m at Ipswich only five nights earlier.

It was a time good enough to win the Vince Curry – the Ipswich club\’s rich Group maiden event staged at the beginning of every year.

In fact, last year\’s winner Farmor Beach, now a Group class performer, won in race record time clocking, you guessed it, 30.33s.

\”Not many maidens can do that,\” said a proud Mary Burman. \”She\’s something special.\”

But that\’s not a big surprise, her Group champion mother Champagne Sally shares the Ipswich 520m track record of 29.97m with Fernando Blaster.

The Burmans are excited about Out Of Champagne\’s bright future as well as other members of the litter they consider one of the best they have produced.

\”Out Of Champagne and an unraced blue dog are probably the pick of the group,\” said Mary. \”And her maiden winning time didn\’t shock us.

\”She and an unraced litter brother both clocked 29.98s in separate trials on the same day at Albion Park in late May-early June.

\”Out Of Champagne also ran 30.60s in one of the first trials after the Ipswich Show and we knew she would improve on that.\”

Mary said she couldn\’t believe that the bitch didn\’t fall in the Albion Park race.

\”It\’s amazing she stayed on her feet,\” she said. \”She did sustain a bit of bruising and a few scratches, but overall she escaped injury fairly well.

\”She was a bit touchy this morning but nothing major.\”

Despite Out Of Champagne\’s mishap – well,  that\’s racing, said Mary – the Burmans were still able to celebrate when their more seasoned sprinter Regal Rocky, a $17 chance, got up in the last few strides to beat the Tony Zammit-trained Merchant Navy ($4) in the $11,200-to-the-winner feature.

\”Regal Rocky was always going in the race,\” said Mary. \”It was only after we heard that noms were a bit light that we entered Out Of Champagne.\”

Despite her lack of racing, the youngster was sent out a $3.90 second favourite.

Meanwhile, Mary said they would probably produce Out Of Champagne\’s smart unraced brother in this month\’s $22,000 Eric Thompson Memorial maiden series over 520m at Albion Park.

SPRING Cleo\’s impressive winning run at Ipswich came to a sudden halt in last month\’s $5250 Past Members Final (431m).

The Pauline Byers-prepared sprinter was chasing her 10th successive victory and a Past Members double, but things didn\’t go her way and the smart Tony Brett-trained What A Debacle dominated.

What A Debacle, the $2.60 favourite, beat John Catton\’s Jaydo\’s Jet ($6.50) with the Noel Evans-prepared Remember Col  ($11) third and Spring Cleo ($3.90) a close fourth.

Spring Cleo had won the Past Members final over 520m in early May but was unable to get a clear crack from box six in the shorter final.

The win pushed What A Debacle\’s career record to 17 wins and 15 placings from 59 starts, with prizemoney just over $63,000.

Despite her defeat, Spring Cleo still had an eight-point lead last month in the Ipswich club\’s greyhound of the year title with 68 points, while Byers (391) had a commanding 110 points advantage over Serena Lawrance in the female trainer\’s premiership.

In a closer battle Mal Cuneo (198) just headed Darren Johnstone (197) in the male trainer\’s title.

MEANWHILE, the well-bred Serena Lawrance-trained Luminosity has hit a purple patch of form that has put Spring Cleo\’s GOTY title hopes under threat.

Luminosity (Fernando Bale-Cardwell [Just The Best-Tina\’s Show]) won his fourth straight 520m race at the track last month, clocking a smart 30.55s.

It lifted the talented youngster\’s overall record to nine wins and five seconds from just 16 starts and put him just eight points behind Spring Cleo in the GOTY race.

FEATURE racing ramps up at Ipswich this month with the $17,800 Young Guns series over 520m, the $12,600 Grand Prix (732m) and the $5250 Past Members over the 288m short course.