Caption: Townsville Mayor, Cr Jenny Hill, and trainer Jay Schafer with talented sprinter Balts Orson, winner of last week’s City Council Mayors Trophy (498m) at Townsville. (Photo: Louise Partland)
Queensland regional greyhound racing news with MIKE HILL
“I’VE never had a harder chaser,” said Jay Schafer when talking about Townsville City Council Mayors Trophy (498m) winner Balts Orson.
“He’d run though a brick wall if he had to.”
The black and white chaser (Orson Allen-Real Obsession) is racing in career best form with five wins and three placings from his past 10 outings.
And he topped off a big week with a runaway eight-and-a-quarter lengths victory in the Jcool Air Conditioning 4th/5th Grade (498m) at Townsville on Saturday.
Balts Orson, the hot $1.15 favourite, led all the way from box one, beating the Brad Belford-trained Just Too Fancy ($14) with another Belford runner Wild Humour ($41) six-and-a-half lengths further back third.
The win followed the sprinter’s impressive mid-week victory in the Mayors Trophy final where he upset Townsville Cup winner Redemption Day and the smart Paw Baby.
“I was surprised he led at the weekend,” said Schafer, who is based at Rangewood, an outer Townsville suburb. “He doesn’t normally do that and he obviously appreciated being back in his own class.
“He’s still eligible for fourth grade although he’s been running against the top graders in recent weeks.
“He’s going really well at the moment. He just loves to race and I’ve never had a harder chaser in my kennel. In fact, the whole litter knows how to run.”
Schafer is good mates with Victorian owner Guy McCleish, who sent most of the litter north with six being trained in the Townsville region.
The Rangewood trainer has three in his kennels, Balts Orson (40: 9-8-6), Balts Obsession (31: 6-6-4) and Balts Flying (26: 4-2-1); leading trainer Laurie Wode has two, the highly talented Bolts Agenda (58: 20-10-9) and See Me Balt (34: 10-7-3), while Bobby-Jean Chaffey has the other – Balts Assassin (32: 6-2-7).
Schafer, a carpet technician by trade, only has five dogs in work.
“I’m kept busy and I don’t have the time for a bigger team, so I try to keep quality in my kennels,” he said.
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MEANWHILE, it was a meeting of ‘twos’ at Townsville on Saturday morning.
Five trainers landed winning doubles on the 11-race program – Hayley Wooler (Blazing Infrared and Tackleberry), Clarry Wilcox (Spike The Punch and Juliette Keats), Jay Schafer (Showtime Smiley and Balts Orson), Heath Ardle (On The Fence and Mali’s Gonzales) and Rhonda Essery (Miss Priddle and Barefoot Di).
Carol Pickard was the odd one out, leading in only the maiden winner Tap Out Mickey.
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IT might have been a Rockhampton meeting on Friday, but the 11-event program was dominated by Bundaberg trainers.
Six winners came from the Bundy region with two trainers – David Raines and Steve Bland – landing doubles while Garry Cluse (Blue Bathers, $2.30 fav) and Keven Read (Italian Steal, $4) were also successful.
Raines led in Miss San Sisco ($2.60 fav) and Katara Love ($12), while Bland’s winners were the well-fancied Mount Cambla ($2.10) and Cambla Doll ($2.30).
Craig Emery, based at Kianga, west of Gladstone, and who races at both Rockhampton and Bundaberg tracks, led in a winning treble with Prince Danube ($4.40), Suite Nita ($2 fav) and He’s Nosey ($1.85 fav).
“Result wise, it’s probably the best meeting for Bundy trainers since our track closed for a major upgrade several months ago,” said Bland, who is also the club president.
He said it had been a change in fortunes for the southern visitors despite the weather being ‘very hot’.
“It was a good day for us,” the trainer said.
Bland also reassured all that work on the Bundy track was progressing on schedule.
“The turf is going down on Wednesday and the tower and starting boxes have been put into place in recent days,” he said.
“Once the grass beds in and becomes established, and that should take about six weeks, we’ll start trialling and hopefully we can return to racing sometime in early February.
“We’ll have three weeks of trials to make sure everything is working perfectly before racing resumes.”
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SMART stayer No Regrets made a successful homecoming at the Townsville Showgrounds circuit last Wednesday night, winning the Peter Jepson Media Services Open (643m).
It was the stayer’s first run back after a fruitful five-and-a-half months campaign with Gold Coast-based trainer George Clegg .
During her mission down south, the Fernando Bale-Red Rock bitch picked up wins over 520m and 710m at Albion Park, represented Queensland in the TAB Origin Greyhound Series and ran an encouraging fourth behind Days Of Thunder in the Queensland Distance Championship (710m).
Back in the care of Chris Scifleet, No Regrets, a short $1.30 favourite, led all the way last week beating Henryk Bale (John La Rosa) and Piazza Minerva (Brad Belford).
Although the winning margin was only a length and a half, it was No Regrets’ first run in more than a month, while Piazza Minerva, having her first run over 643m, made up many lengths late and could be one to watch over the longer trips.
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GLEN Olsen’s More Sensation is in the running for two titles in 2022 – Australia’s ‘raciest’ greyhound and Townsville’s Greyhound of the Year award.
However, the second has become a bit shaky in recent weeks.
As of yesterday, More Sensation had raced 77 times since January 1 – four more than nearest rival the Doug Hammerstein-trained Victorian sprinter Lektra Sammy (73).
And the Olsen chaser had a narrow nine-point lead in the club’s GOTY, but her form has slipped of late.
With four meetings remaining until the Townsville Showgrounds close for the annual Christmas-New Year break, More Sensation has 136 points to Laurie Wode’s outstanding sprinter Balts Agenda’s 127.
And while More Sensation’s form is faltering – she has failed to run a place in her past three outings – Balts Agenda has gone on a six-race winning streak.
Victory in tomorrow (Tuesday) night’s Best 8 Sprint (380m) by the Wode chaser would put serious pressure on Olsen’s hopes of landing another GOTY title.
Balts Agenda, with nine wins from her past 11 starts (all in Best 8 company), has drawn ideally in box one and will be highly fancied to continue her winning run.
Confined to racing only once a week, while Olsen’s sprinter doubles up most weeks, the title could be hers if she keeps winning.
Balts Agenda has more wins for the year, 15 to 12, but More Sensation has consistently been in the money, picking up more placings – 24 to 12. However, her form has to improve sharply in the remaining weeks.
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ROCKHAMPTON also has a close race in its GOTY award.
Following Saturday’s meeting, the Ken Boody-trained sprint star Zip Stream has a narrow five-point advantage over Christine Pollard’s CQ Derby winner Five Putt Cal.
Zip Stream has 92 points, Five Putt Cal’s on 87, while the Peta Boon-trained pair Velocity Kayla and Velocity Tamika are next on 74 and 68 with another Boody ‘flyer’ Dixie Gambles on 63.
