David Braithwaite
SALE Greyhound Club will host meetings Friday night and Sunday.
Friday’s 11-race program begins at 7.07pm.
Sunday’s racing will include the final of the 440m series for dogs with three to six wins.
Meanwhile, Catch The Thief will go into Friday’s group three Cranbourne Classic final as the favourite.
The dog, trained at Briagolong by Matt Clark and owned by the local Ghost syndicate, recorded the fasted time in the heats last Friday, notching a hat-trick of victories.
Catch The Thief has won 16 races from 26 starts – including 10 of his past 13 – and is aiming for a third age-restricted group race win, having this year claimed the group two WA Derby and group three Warragul St Leger.
Because of the curfew imposed on metropolitan Melbourne, Friday’s Cranbourne Classic final is scheduled for the earlier than usual time of 5.40pm.
CITADEL of Chaos stretched the winning start to his career to three races on Tuesday night at Warragul.
The greyhound, trained by Des Douch at Maffra, won the 400m mixed grade six and seven final. Concrete Fever finished third for Munro trainer Robert Cook.
Cook’s Madalia Mick finished second in a 460m grade five race.
Usain Spolly, trained at Kilmany by Steve Spoljaric, won a heat of the 400m grade five series, with Macalister Tiger finishing second for Cheryl Morris at Briagolong. The final will be raced this Tuesday night.
Select Hypo, trained by Ken Bailey at Maffra, finished second in a 400m maiden, while Flywheel Bella, coming off back-to-back wins, finished second in a 460m mixed grade four and five for Gormandale trainer Sam Bye.
ON Monday afternoon at Warragul, Speed Demon, trained by Margaret Read at Woodside, lived up to his name to win the 400 metre grade seven.
The dog sprinted clear at the start, setting up the win, almost three seconds ahead of Bomber’s Cruiser, trained by Geoff Green at Woodside.
Fallen Petal won a 400m maiden for Gormandale trainer Kaylah Thorburn.
After Fallen Petal began slowly, the other dogs went wide into the home straight, opening a big gap for her to win. In second place was Light On Tackle, trained at Maffra by Corey Fulford.
Fulford’s Crouching Tiger finish third in another 400m maiden, behind Stellar Jewell, trained by Kate Gorman at Tanjil South, and Bomber’s Smokey, trained by Green.
Financial Tarra, trained by Fulford, finished second in the 460m grade five race. The dog was at the back of the field after the start, but worked her way around the other dogs, and finished well to fall 0.71s short of the winner.
The 460m mixed grade six and seven was a thriller, with just 0.37s separating the first four dogs. Symbol For You, trained by Wendy Fasoli at Heyfield, finished third.
Piccolo Fratello, trained by Robert Whitford at Yarram, came third in the 400m grade five race.
Earlier at Cranbourne, Prize Diamond won a 311m maiden for Heyfield trainer Susan Northway, and Cosmic Vigilante, trained by Andrew Wood at Nambrok, finished third in a 520m race.
WOOD’S Onya Jakit won a 300m grade five by a nose at Healesville on Tuesday.
Two Spoljaric runners won during the same program, with Avenger Spolly placing first over 300m to claim a second victory from 12 starts, and Sunshine Spolly winning a 300m grade five.
Nambrok trainer Gary McMillan won 350m and 300m races with Clan McMillan and Castle Sween respectively, and came third in another 350m event with Aston Frigate.
LEMONADE Kid, trained at Valencia Creek by Jennifer Gieschen, finished third in the 311m free for all at Cranbourne on Wednesday.
After giving the leading two dogs a sizable margin, Lemonade Kid finished strongly, finishing only 0.67 behind the winner and claiming back-to-back third placings at the track.
