PORTLAND greyhound Hutch, who kicked off the year in a blaze of glory with wins in the General Destini Summer Classic and a heat of the Mount Gambier Cup, will return to racing tomorrow at Tara Raceway’s time-graded meeting.
Trained by Robert Halliday, Hutch – a litter brother to top Adelaide chaser Cairnlea Kenny – has been off the scene since September, his last win being on July 14 over 450 metres at Warrnambool in a best of night 25.47 seconds.
The beautifully bred son of Premier Fantasy x Cairnlea Ellie will line up from box two in tomorrow’s Klaassens Contractors Stake (512 metres) with an imposing record of 19 starts for six wins, three minor placings and a best time at the track of 29.91 seconds.
This was the time the black dog ran when defeating seasoned performer and former track record holder Paraphernalia in a cup heat on Sunday, February 26 before going into the following week’s final with only six starts to his name and running unplaced behind Fabregal.
While Hutch’s return to racing tomorrow is in a non-penalty time-graded event, Halliday will hop this will simply be the first step of a journey that leads him to another Mount Gambier Cup, this time a Listed $22,000 series, heats of which will be run on Sunday, March 11, 2018.
Ecklin South trainer Peter Fulton, who has had a bit of recent success at Tara Raceway with Noosa Parade, has drawn box one in tomorrow’s Metal Worx Maiden Stake (400m) with first starter Like A Dyson, a daughter of My Bro Fabio x Irish Malt.
Irish Malt’s racing career was cut short after only seven starts which resulted in three wins and three minor placings.
However, from her second litter, by Go Wild Teddy, she produced the smart bitch Mendes who ultimately won 19 races.
Early in her career, Mendes created a huge impression at Tara Raceway when defeating Mojito Mayhem in a heat of the 2015 Summer Classic although she had no luck in the final when as a short-priced favourite she run unplaced behind Cryer’s Ricky.
And another first starter in this race is the Nifty Lenehan owned Chatterbox Laura, trained at Portland by Nicole Stanley.
By Cosmic Rumble out of Obama’s Girl, the November 2015 Chatterbox Laura was bred by Lenehan who has enjoyed success this year at Tara Raceway with Obama’s Girl’s previous litter (by Kinloch Brae) which has won 11 races.
Coincidentally, Lenehan has a daughter called Laura.
