Caption: Handler Luke Townsend with promising stayer King Tommy. (Photo: Davide Zamboni)

ALL About Stone produced a last-to-first effort to take out the 2023 edition of the Group 3 Young Stars Classic at Cannington recently.

 The David Hobby-trained dog, by Zack Monelli, won his heat in impressive fashion, coming from behind and still running a slick time of 29.85.

 Drawing box two for the final, All About Stone was last approaching the first turn, before a rails run appeared and he improved his position to fourth in the back straight.

Approaching the 600 metres he began to chase down Nangar Bubbles and was simply too strong in the end, posting a time of 30.29 on a heavily- watered track. My Anarchy Boy and Nangar Bubbles completed the placings.

It was All About Stone’s fourth win from 13 career starts and his first feature race triumph took his prizemoney past $50,000.

He still has the opportunity to win through the grades, given he has another Novice Grade race win before graduating. We’ll be hearing plenty more about All Over Stone in the months to come.

King Tommy’s star continues to rise

King Tommy’s brilliance was again on display when he landed Canning Show Cup (600m) at the annual twilight meeting at Cannington.

 King Tommy drew box two for the Best-8 Listed feature and was able sit much closer in the run, compared with where he has found himself in recent races over the sprint journey.

 He quickly went through his gears up the back, and looked a class above turning for home, going on to score by just under three lengths.

 Couch Surfer made it a Chris Halse quinella, charging into second place late.

The overall time of 34.56 was blistering considering he had to navigate traffic in the run and illustrates the sheer talent King Tommy possesses.

Debate rages as to whether he can take his show on the road and test some of the best stayers in the country. This was only further fuelled after the running of the Topgun Stayers, where the field was considered a drop from the quality of previous years.

At this stage, 600m looks his pet trip, but he did break the 4-second mark in the lead up to the WA Distance Championship earlier this year. It’s clear to see he has matured since then, and looks the complete package now.

Mandurah’s popular return to racing

The popular one-turn circuit at Mandurah has finally returned to the WA racing calendar after eight months of track re-developments, with punters giving the circuit a tick of approval just weeks into its new life.

The re-developments have seen a change of starting points to 300m, 400m, 488m and 652m, with country and provincial prizemoney being on offer.

The first two weeks of meetings have produced very clean racing, with as little interference as you could expect in a greyhound race.

Another key indicator has been the fact the class runners have had their way to date, giving punters confidence they can invest and get a fair go for their money.

The early track record over 488m belongs to King Tommy, posting 27.10 in a heat of the Group 2 Mandurah Cup, while Can’t Bluff Me for Cosi Dagostino is the clubhouse leader over 400m. He posted a time of 22.37 on the same night as King Tommy.

The month ahead:

December packs a heavy punch in the form of feature race action in WA, with five feature race rugs up for grabs.

The two Listed features for the top-class city dogs are the Anniversary Cup and the Christmas Gift. The Anniversary Cup will be conducted over 520m and is an open class event. This will include greyhounds returning from a stint at Mandurah for the Cup. The race was taken out by Amplified last year in an impressive time of 29.49.

The Christmas Gift is the next feature race on the agenda for the staying division, where the eight best stayers will do battle over 715m. Superman Keeping won this race last year, getting the better of Tsar Bell and Lima Monelli.

Provincial and Country chasers get their opportunity to shine this month as well, with the Dawesville Cup and Dart series being the highlights of mid-week racing in December.

 The Dawesville Cup will be contested over the new 488m starting point at Mandurah, with over $12,000 in prizemoney of offer for Grade 4&5 provincial greyhounds.

Sparks will fly over the 275m at Cannington, with the Dart series to be contested by the best short-coursers in the state. This race often attracts large nominations and can have up tp six heats, creating a great card of Monday night racing.

Lastly, the maidens get their lick of the ice cream with the Summer Maiden classic taking place late in December.

These quarterly features often produce the best up-and-comers in our state, and with $9200 to the winner, it’s certainly a nice start to a young greyhound’s career.