Caption: Follow The Band is airborne on the way to victory in the Group 1 Maturity Classic. (Photo:BlueStream Pictures)
Victorian News With ETHAN CHRISTIAN
The Meadows played host to thrilling editions of the age-restricted Group 1 Maturity Classic (525m) and Group 3 The Fireball (730m), with both events taken out in a manner that typified the racing style of a sprinter and stayer.
Team Gibbons took home the Maturity Classic with the ever-improving Follow The Band leading all-of-the way in a fast 29.73s.
Winning his heat from box one, the son of Bernardo had the fortune of the same draw in the final and made good use of the advantage, spearing out of the traps clear of the field and never looked in danger of being reeled in.
Mepunga Tully tried gallantly to keep in close touch with the leader, and despite finishing second, undoubtedly gained admirers as she continued her upward trajectory for trainer Jeff Britton.
Vincent Bale claimed third for Team Grenfell and the son of Christo Bale is also seeing his stock rise within the Victorian chasing ranks.
The victory of Follow The Band and his general form of late, including four wins in a row, sees him potentially head towards the Nationals as one of Victoria’s leading candidates, should the kennel decide that is the next stop in his preparation.
All eyes were drawn to one greyhound heading into the final of The Fireball, due to one of the more mind-boggling victories produced by Palawa King in the heats.
However, the final was dealt a blow as ‘The King’ was scratched due to injury.
Fortunately, the noticeable void left by Palawa King was filled just as impressively with the performance of staying prodigy Ella’s Babe.
Having raced the sire and dam herself (My Bro Fabio and Ella Enchanted), Ennis can be justly proud of what Ella’s Babe has produced in the last 8 weeks, and excited as to what the future holds.
Ella’s Babe settled near last with a lap to go in the Group 3 final and required all 730m to arrive in time over the Shane Drummond trained Drill Sergeant.
Aunt Virginia ran a tremendous race into third for John Paraskevas in only her second attempt at the city staying trip, as she continued to show her promise at the longer trip having set the new time standard at the Sale 640m trip earlier in the month at 36.38s.
Mckenna Memorial:
Michelle Mallia continued her winning way for the year as Stomping took out the 2024 edition of the Group 2 McKenna Memorial by more than six lengths.
Staged at Sandown Park over the 595m trip, Stomping finished third in his heat the week prior, with his heat time being the slowest of the eight qualifiers, but left the final in little doubt early in proceedings, marking his third attempt at Group level a winning one.
Leaving the boxes well, he was able to muster with superior speed to find the fence first and had set up a large gap in the field by the time the remaining runners had sorted out their order.
Ethanol Water (Tom Dailly) and Big Energy (Jacqui Greenough) nabbed second and third respectively, but were never in contention to pass the post first.
Mallia has had a great deal of success with her home-bred litter, perhaps more so with short coursing star Matt Loch, however Stomping appears to be now hitting his straps, showcasing an ability to cover distance like his dam (Stepping) did.
Pass The Buck Returns
Talented sprinter Pass The Buck returned to racing in style for Anthony Azzopardi with a scintillating 25.17s victory at Geelong over 460m, one length outside of the long-standing time standard of 25.11s set by Black Magic Opal in 2013.
A finalist in The Phoenix in 2023, Pass the Buck was the first to leave the boxes and speared away for a convincing four-length victory.
Having his first race start since a luckless run in a semi-final of the Australian Cup back in February, the son of Bernardo appears to have come through his recent run of injuries in good order, with trainer Azzopardi and owners, Darren and Michael Puleio, undoubtedly hopeful their young star can remain sound for tilts at upcoming major races, including the imminent Nationals series and Million Dollar Chase.
Upcoming Events
The month of August is a rather empty one on the racing calendar for Victoria, with the exception being the Victorian National Sprint, Distance, and Straight Track series being conducted early in the month.
Sandown Park play host to the heats and finals of the Sprint and Distance series (1st and 8th of August respectively), while Healesville will stage the Straight Track heats and final on the 4th and 11th of August.
The winner of each series will fly the flag for Victoria at the Nationals Finals later in the month, to be staged in South Australia at Murray Bridge (Straight Track) and Angle Park (Sprint and Distance) on August 24.
Despite winning neither of the Sprint or Distance series in the past three editions, Victoria boasts a proud history in the series with an honour roll consisting of some of the greats.
A pair of champions in the form of Temlee (1974) and Fernando Bale (2015) have both won the Sprint series for Victoria, while Fanta Bale (2017) and Tornado Tears (2018) have both been victorious in the Distance series in recent years.
Victoria has also claimed victory in two of the three Straight Track series to date – Peter Galo (2019) and ‘King of the Straight’, Unleash Collinda (2023).
