Caption: Selena and Mick Zammit with Cluster after victory in the QGOLD Winter Sprint Final (520m) at Albion Park on Thursday night. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
Pat McLeod’s wrap of Thursday night racing at Albion Park, including:
- Cluster steps into the limelight
- Sandra Hunt’s ‘Hayze kids’ emerge
- Cyndie’s Cyndie writing her own classic story
- Tony Brett’s ‘hibernation’ has ended
Classic ‘middle child’, Cluster, ensured the 2024 Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival had a dramatic opening by organizing his own coming out party at Albion Park on Thursday night.
Wedged between track-star litter mates Jay Is Jay and All Natural, Cluster discarded his ‘unknown’ tag with an inspired win in the QGOLD Winter Sprint Final (520m).
“That was amazing,” said trainer of all three members of the incredible Sennachie x Kealoah litter, Selena Zammit, after the strong victory.
“He is the underrated brother. He isn’t as fast as his two brothers, but he has got as much heart as his brothers and just tries his guts out every time.
“I just love him to bits.”
Cluster refused to bow to Travis Elson’s tenacious group performer Bear’s Bullet for the entire journey, finding the line a length in front of her, with another Winter Carnival aspirant, Seaton Key (Michael Lalicz) third.
The time, 30.22, reflected the wet conditions.
Cluster’s win, taking his record to a far-from-insignificant 17 wins and 21 placings from 50 starts and $127,190 in prizemoney, was the only QGOLD final on the night with heats of both the Emerging Sprinters (520m) and Winter Chase (600m) also held.
Further QGOLD heats will be held on Friday and Sunday, leading into a further seven finals next Thursday night.
The QGOLD features have now become the popular curtain opener for both the Summer and Winter Carnivals.
Jay Is Jay won the QGOLD Winter Sprint last year, a point not lost on Selena Zammit.
“It was special to win this race tonight and it such an achievement for us to win it with Jay Is Jay last year and then this year with his brother,” she said.
“It is freakish what is happening with these three dogs.
“How do you explain it? How do you put it into words?
“It is a litter that just keeps producing (the eight members of the litter have a combined prizemoney tally of $2,268,880).
“Everything they do is magic. It is a dream litter.”
Both Jay and Jay and All Natural missed the carnival opener as they recover from minor injuries.
Selena said both kennel powerhouses would be back for the carnival’s main events.
(The Selena and husband Mick Zammit kennel also struck late in the program with a very impressive nine-length win by youngster Hoshino in a BON 29.93 in a 5th Grade 520m event.)
Caption: Sandra Hunt’s Kahlo Hayze storms to the line with a scintillating finish to win a heat of the QGOLD Emerging Sprinters (520m). (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
The three heats of the QGOLD Emerging Sprinters (520m) on Thursday night were shaping as a showcase for Travis Elson’s Fernando Bale x Nan’s Magic litter, before another litter, under the care of Sandra Hunt, stole the spotlight.
Initially Elson’s promising progeny looked likely when Aidan’s Queen and Speed Zone landed first and third in the opening heat with Jedda Cutlack’s Duffman, second.
All seemed to be going to script when Elson’s Travis’s Scrub and Danger Zone appeared set to quinella the second heat.
However, in the shadows of the post the well-performed Kahlo Hayze launched a withering burst to grab the win by three-quarters of a length with Travis’s Scrub second and Warren Nicholls’ Spiderbait third.
Danger Zone was fourth and the winning time, 30.50.
However, Hunt’s representatives from the Orson Allen x Dolcetto Hayze litter weren’t done.
Mustang Hayze claimed the final Emerging Sprinters heat, one-and-a-quarter-lengths ahead of recent Brisbane Young Guns winner, Travis Elson’s Super Scrub, who started a $2 favourite.
Selena Zammit’s Rocklea Earle was third, with the winning time 30.36.
Back in Bundaberg the ‘Hayze’ litter’s owner Nathan Trigg watched the racing while surrounded by another just-whelped litter and was appropriately rapt, especially with the finish of Kahlo Hayze.
“That finish was pretty awesome. It was really heart-in-the-mouth stuff,” he said.
“I was well and truly surprised with the amount of ground the dog made up in those last 50 metres.
“She can run home well, but when she stumbled at the first corner I thought, ‘Well she is gone here’.
“As far as the final goes, the trouble with Kahlo is that there are a lot of very quick-early dogs. “They really do get out and give themselves every chance and if Kahlo finds trouble it will be hard for her.
“But she does always try her best.”
Trainer Hunt was happy with the night’s result.
“We have two in the final so you can only be happy with that,” she said.
Caption: Cyndie’s Cyndie is writing her own amazing story at this year’s Qld Winter Carnival. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
Meanwhile, a captivating fairytale is forming around exciting middle distance racer Cyndie’s Cyndie.
The Cyndie Elson-owned and trained excitement machine continued her path towards a unique carnival highlight with victory in the opening heat of the QGOLD Winter Chase (600m) at Albion Park on Thursday night.
Cyndie’s Cyndie will now contest next week’s final and then move to the heats of the newly minted $112,500 Group 2 Cyndie’s Magic (600m), a race named after her mother.
“I have no doubt this bitch will a big threat in this Winter Carnival, but the whole family, especially mum, is looking forward to the race that is named after the mother, Cyndie’s Magic,” said Cyndie Elson’s son Travis.
“That is what we are aiming for.
“Mum is so excited about the whole carnival, especially about this bitch. Her mother (Cyndie’s Magic) is on the couch at home and that dog was mum’s ‘baby’.
“Mum is honoured that a race has been named after Cyndie’s Magic.
“And she said, ‘Well, let’s try to win it with her daughter’.
“And what a story it would be if she could win it.”
Cyndie’s Cyndie saluted on Thursday night ahead of Jewel Bee (Ray Burman) with Amendola (Tom Tzouvelis) third. The winning time was 35.26secs.
The second of the two heats in the QGOLD Winter Chase was won by Tony Apap’s Plum Tuckered, in a quicker time, 35.12.
“I was very pleased with her start and first section considering the wet track,” said Apap.
“Her box manners have been good in the last couple of starts.
“Her start and that performance tonight gives you confidence.
“She is just a great little bitch, a little bit timid, but an absolute gem to train.
“The way she is coming out at the moment it wouldn’t matter what box she draws next week.”
Caption: Tony Brett signaled that his sabbatical has ended with a couple of eye-catching runs at Albion Park on Thursday night, including victory to Daintree Idol late in the program. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
As Queensland’s form trainers sought early Winter Carnival success in the QGOLD events, another big local name, Tony Brett, is slowly emerging from ‘hibernation’.
As the carnival drumroll grows louder, Brett made an ominous appearance late in Thursday night’s program at ‘The Creek’.
He narrowly missed ‘the chocolates’ when August Bob was run down by Tarawi Moo (Denise Robinson) in Race 9, a 4th/5th Grade 520m.
Then in race 10, a 5th Grade 520m, the impressive Daintree Idol put Brett back into his familiar winner’s circle, with a win in her first appearance at Albion Park.
