By David Lewis
EVERY so often Compton trainer Tracie Price comes up with a quick maiden 400-metre winner.
A case in point was Wise Stella who found her way to the South East from WA in June 2018 – after a one-race stopover in Victoria which, to be honest, did not end all that well.
The beautifully-bred daughter of Barcia Bale and Wise Penny fronted up at Tara Raceway for her second start some eight months later and she scored like the $1.30 favourite she was, with a 12¼ lengths win in 22.89 seconds.
Wise Stella’s run lowered the previous fastest maiden winning time of 22.98 seconds recorded by Faster Bolt in October 2017.
In fact, her time was not all that far outside Cryer’s Ricky’s then track record of 22.78 seconds.
Fast forward to last Thursday and the Price-trained Way Out lined up for the first time at Tara Raceway in the Progreyhoundtips.com Maiden Stake over 400 metres, the fastest maiden time still standing to the credit of Wise Stella.
Owned in Adelaide by Michael Ceravolo and Daniella Madalinski, Way Out had been placed in six of his 12 starts at Gawler and Murray Bridge.
However, the brindle dog had found plenty of trouble in his races.
No problems last week, though.
He went straight to the front from box two, eventually running out a 10-lengths winner over Galactic Hera in 22.85 seconds.
Bred by Madalinski, Way Out is a son of Spring Gun and the city-winning Springvale Hope who boasts an impressive pedigree, by Collision out of 39-race winner Hope’s Up.
Wise Stella went on to win a further eight races without ever matching her maiden time.
It will now be interesting to see how Way Out handles himself as he looks to work through the grades.
