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  • Saturday, 22 Nov, 2014,
  • by Greyhound Racing Victoria

Sweet Memories Provide Fitting Bold Trease Victory

Sweet It Is won her fourth Group 1 race in last night’s Solo Bold Trease (715m) at Sandown Park in yet another spectacular come-from-the-clouds display, and you’d be hard pressed to script a more befitting winner considering her trainer Darren McDonald grew up in the same town as the famous greyhound the race is named after.

Darren McDonald was just a youngster when Bold Trease was dominating the staying scene in Victoria, winning an unprecedented four consecutive Sandown Cups from 1986-89.

“She (Sweet It Is) reminds of Bold Trease. I remember when I was a kid growing up in Warrnambool and watching Bold Trease, and the way she comes from behind to win is similar to the way he raced,” McDonald said.

McDonald was 20 years old when Bold Trease won his fourth Sandown Cup, and 25 years on he has a champion stayer of his own, with the Lenny Jones-bred, Two Bear’s Syndicate-owned Sweet It Is snaring a $100,000 first prize.

“What do you say? She has now won four Group 1s in a year. She ran (sixth) in this race last year when she was very young.”

“She’s a freak. You can’t come from where she came from and run down a track record dog like Space Star to win a Group 1 by five lengths like she did tonight. It’s ridiculous what she can do,” McDonald said.

Sweet It Is took her record to 15 wins from 47 starts, and took her prize money total up to $594,000 after beating Space Star and Reap The Benefit in 41.565sec.

Her four Group 1 wins include the Association Cup, the Sandown Cup, the National Distance Championship and now the Bold Trease.

Incredibly, she has run second in the heats in each one of those events before saving her best for the big stage.

Whether that is a case of luck, her sense of occasion or McDonald’s training expertise coming to the fore is anyone’s guess, but there is no question that Sweet It Is is fast becoming one of the greatest stayers of the modern era.
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Watch: Sweet It Is (3) wins the Group 1 Bold Trease.
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Pictured top: Sweet It Is with trainer Darren McDonald (right) and Norm McCullagh, trainer of the legendary Bold Trease.
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Greyhound Racing VictoriaGreyhound Racing Victoria

Greyhound Racing Victoria

GRV regulates the sport of greyhound racing in the state of Victoria under the Racing Act 1958 (Act), which includes setting standards and ensuring they are met by participants.

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