Left Speed machine Vapour Whirl bolts away to take out the $37,000 Cranbourne Greyhound Cup by more than five lengths on Monday night.By Brad Kingsbury
BALLARAT greyhound Vapour Whirl made short work of a cracking field in the final of the Group 2 Cranbourne Cup on Monday night, leading all the way to win the $37,000 final by more than five lengths.
Vapour Whirl’s win in the cup was a major triumph for Ballarat trainer Darren Murray and owners Barry Lockett and Tim Winter, who nursed the dog back to health when it sustained career-threatening problems after a race fall in the Temlee Classic at The Meadows last year.
The home-bred dog, which also won the Warragul Cup on Christmas Eve, jumped to the lead in the Cranbourne Cup and was never threatened, bolting in by more than five lengths over the 520-metre course to down Dyna Redbull and Sonador in a time of 30.21 seconds.
Tooradin dog Sonador, trained by Amy Ralph and handled by her father Stan, was the outsider of the field but ran a bold race from box six to finish third, while other locally trained hopes in the final, Go Wild Hermes and Lobby Lloyd, finished outside the money-earners in the feature event.
Emotions ran high on the night, with both owners shedding a tear after the victory.
Winter, who has been involved in greyhounds for almost 30 years and who has known Lockett, a former lure driver at the Ballarat greyhound track, for even longer, was thrilled with the effort.
“We’ve been mates for years and bred and raced dogs together. We’re just battlers and it’s a great feeling to win an event like this,” Winter said.
“It’s not the prize money – it’s for the love of dogs and dog racing. This is what it’s all about.”
Vapour Whirl is a full brother to star chaser Rocky, also bred by the pair, and Winter knew the dog had ability after it was sent to leading greyhound trainers Tom and George Dailly to be educated.
“The Dailly brothers broke him in and said he was the quickest dog they had broken for two years,” Winter said.
“We’ve been in dogs for so long and you only dream of dogs like this coming along.”
Murray was also chuffed with the victory – his first in the race after several attempts – and said it was great to win a big race with Lockett, who he had known since he was five years old.
The cup consolation race was won by star western suburbs greyhound Train A Journey, which cleared away to beat All The Moves and reserve runner Maureen Shirley for well-known Cranbourne trainer Stan Wardle.
The winner’s trainer, John Galea, said he almost scratched the dog after it missed a run in the final.
“Box one was the key. When he drew that box I decided to start him but he has had a few problems and needed all the time to come up for the race,” he said.
“It was good to win but would have been better to make the final.”
Cranbourne Greyhound Racing Club president John Van Echteld was thrilled with the large crowd in attendance at the meeting and thanked major sponsor Kingston Trophies along with other supporters.
