Victorian sprinter Ronray Spirit ($5.70) won a heat of the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg (520m) at Sydney’s Wentworth Park on Saturday night when gaining a start as the first reserve from Box 4 and winning in the impressive time of 29.65sec.

Being a reserve in an interstate race can pose a challenge for trainers, especially when the venue is eight hours from home. Finding out the day before that Ronray Spirit had gained a start made things a lot easier for Yuroke mentor Terry Reid.

“I found out on Friday morning that there was a scratching in his heat and that he would get a run, so I travelled to Sydney on Friday and spent the night with friends who live close to the track,” Reid said.

Reid had a plan in place had a call not come through by Friday, as scratchings often occur on the morning of a race.

“Had the call not come through by Friday I was always going to leave home at 6:45am on Saturday morning and drive a couple of hours toward Sydney, stop the car at Wangaratta and then find out while I was there whether he had gained  a start,” Reid said.

“At least then I would have been part of the way there, because had he gained a run Saturday morning and I was still at home I would have had to drive virtually non-stop to get there on time.”

“And had I found out in Wangaratta that he didn’t get a start I would have turned around and went home. Luckily it didn’t come to that but it’s best to have a plan in place in those situations.”

Ronray Spirit (pictured winning the 2015 Warragul Cup) was one of six Victorian greyhounds among the 10 heat winners including Fernando Bale and Hostile, who were the two fastest heat winners, both running 29.45sec.

The first three placegetters and two fastest fourths from the heats will make up this Saturday’s four semi-finals, with Victorian superstar My Bro Fabio scraping through to the next round.

The first and second placegetters from the semis will make up the Golden Easter Egg final on Saturday week, where a first prize of $250,000 is up for grabs.
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Golden Easter Egg Heat Results: Click Here

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[youtube youtubeurl=”e7nWPYmdk1c” ][/youtube]
Watch: Ronray Spirit (9) wins his Golden Easter Egg heat from box 4 in 29.65sec.
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