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  • Saturday, 18 Feb, 2017,
  • by Andrew Copley

Lightning strikes twice with win in Temlee

Lightning Frank ($8.70) came out humming to score a commanding win in the $145,000 Group 1 Temlee (525) on Saturday, the opening night of the 2017 Australian Cup Carnival.

Having claimed the Group 1 Silver Chief at The Meadows in January, Lightning Frank made it 15 wins from 25 starts when clocking a sizzling 29.67sec for hobby trainer Mathew Wright (pictured top) of Allansford and claiming his second Group 1 in the invitational sprint.

Lightning Frank was always going to take a power of beating after settling in front of the elite hand-picked field from box seven, and even gallant performances from placegetters Jesaulenko ($9.40) and Zambora Brockie ($4.30) weren’t enough to seriously threaten the winner.

“It’s a huge thrill just to receive an invitation to this race, let alone win it,” elated trainer Mathew Wright said after Lightning Frank snared the $100,000 first prize.

A small-time trainer and full-time fencing contractor, Wright is pinching himself at having a dual Group 1 winner in his kennel.

“He’s a once in a lifetime dog for dad (Kevin) and I. In fact, I really need to acknowledge dad, because I work full-time so I rely on dad to do a lot of the work with our dogs.”

“Lightning Frank is a greyhound we’ve had to show a lot of patience with because he showed a lot of ability early on but he was often pulling up with niggling little injuries,” Wright said.

“But I’ve received plenty of good advice from different people such as (breeder) Barry Smith and (trainer) Steve Elsum, as well as vets like Des Fagan and Nicole Cheek.”

“I also want to thank the owners (Hashtag Syndicate), who are really easy to train dogs for.”

Lightning Frank will return to The Meadows next week for heats of the Group 1 Australian Cup.

Watch Lightning Frank’s winning chase

[youtube youtubeurl=”1T4mqpkM4M0″ ][/youtube]

Lightning Frank

Lightning Frank (7) pings straight to the lead in the Temlee.
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Lightning Frank
The Hashtag Syndicate rejoice after Lightning Frank’s win.
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Lightning Frank
Temlee placegetters Jesaulenko (with Terri Morris), Lightning Frank (Mathew Wright) and Zambora Brockie (Anthony Azzopardi).

PHOTO GALLERY

Andrew CopleyAndrew Copley

Andrew Copley

Communications Manager at Greyhound Racing Victoria with 25 years’ experience as a reporter with National Greyhound Form newspaper and GRV. Former Watchdog form analyst. Adopter of celebrity greyhound, Fred Basset. Victorian Greyhound of the Year and Victorian greyhound racing Hall of Fame panel member.

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