Harris grabs four winners as future stars shine

25/03/2024
Racing News


Harris grabs four winners as future stars shine

The 2024 Gawler Future Stars heats were the feature attraction on an entertaining 12-race program at Gawler on Sunday night.

Highlighting some of the up-and-coming SA Bred greyhounds, two heats were run heading towards a final on the marquee meeting on Easter Sunday night.

The first heat was taken out by the Robyn Mackellar-trained Blazing Butters, who defeated kennel mate Peace Belle by a length in 30.69.

Drawn perfectly in box one, Blazing Butters was able to stay on the rail and was aided by Peace Belle shifting up the track and allowing Blazing Butters to gain an advantage which it was able to hold for the remainder of the race.

The second heat was taken out by Zinfandel Evie for trainer Gavin Harris who showed all of her brilliant early speed to find the lead to cross over from box four and create a five-length advantage down the back straight.

Zinfandel Evie continued on to win by four lengths in 30.58 and improved her record to 13 wins from 27 career starts which includes a six win from seven starts record at Gawler.

Zinfandel Evie’s win was one of four winners on the night for trainer Gavin Harris who enjoyed a terrific Sunday night at Gawler.

Harris opened the card with reliable veteran Springvale Rex taking out the opening event on the card with a nice win from box eight over the 643m distance in a good time of 37.51.

Springvale Maddi was Harris’ third winner for the evening grabbing career win number 34 after taking out a mixed grade 3/4/5 race over the 531m journey in 30.63 before Springvale Blitz completed the quarter with a nice win over the 400m journey from box eight.

The SA Owned Grade 5 final over the 400m journey saw a big surprise with the Adam Burda-trained No Idea winning from box seven at massive odds of $61.

No Idea was able to show plenty of early speed from the wide draw and finding the early lead on the back of an 8.73 first split. No Idea opened a two-length advantage and was able to win by two lengths in 22.78 just ahead of fellow outsider They’re Yours from trainer Kym Burnett.

Race two on the card saw the Ben Rawlings trained Tex’s Ear win a grade six race over the 531m journey. Part-owned by namesake and Adelaide Crows forward Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker, the greyhound enjoyed a drop back in class as it won in 30.91 from an awkward box four draw.

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Wednesday

The winners were shared around at Wednesday’s time-graded meeting at Gawler with 11 trainers enjoying success on the 12-race program.

Kim Johnstone was the only trainer who grabbed a double on the card as she continued a recent good run of form for her kennel.

Making the most of an inside draw from box two, Glorious Bella was able to overcome some early traffic and found the rail working through the field and taking the lead just before the post in winning in 22.99 by three quarters of a length.

Yes Ma’am, the second winner for Johnston had a much easier time of it winning its five plus wins race over the 400m journey by two and a half lengths.

Getting a start as a reserve from box four, Yes Ma’am was able to burrow through and find the early lead getting away and winning in 22.83 which was a best of the day time over the 400m journey.

Another impressive winner was the Richard Stasiak trained Elegant Ritzy who won the five plus win race over the 531m journey with a nice run from box one taking out the race in 30.93.

The win was career win number 11 at start number 58 for Elegant Ritzy and is a chaser who has enjoyed success at Gawler in recent times.