The metropolitan week of greyhound racing started with a 12 race midweek Meadows fixture on Wednesday.

Hanging In There began the week in the same way he finished it. The Rob Coleman trained chaser looked good with a 30.04 best of day victory over the 525m (Replay) at The Meadows on Wednesday (December 23) and he then followed it up with a slick 29.38 win at Sandown Park on Sunday (Replay), which had him highlighted both of the provincial prize money metro meetings.

The Thursday night Christmas eve meeting from Sandown was filled with impressive winners and the here are the wins that caught my eye…

In the third race of the night Major Curly showed a terrific turn of pace between the first two sectionals (13.62), which had him flying along with a big lead in the fifth grade final. This smart sprinter kept on going to win by just over a length from the fast finishing Solo in 29.46 (Replay).

Fine Cocoon continued her speedy top class start to her career after she ran the Traralgon to City staying final ragged. The Melissa Karamatic trained staying youngster has burst on to the scene after she claimed her third metropolitan final in just six starts. This incredible start to her career has her sitting with $24,350, which averages out to just over four thousand dollars a start (Replay).

It’s extremely hard to go past Polijuice Potion as the run of the night after this flying machine speared around the 595m in a blistering 33.72. After a luckless run in the recent Group 2 Laurels final (515m) at Sandown, she bounced back with a tip top beginning and quite simply annihilated her rivals with a devastating four length win over Cut Loose Max (Replay).

The four semis of the Group 1 Silver Chief attracted the attention at The Meadows on Saturday night and I was so very impressed with the victory of Ernest Bale in the fourth and final semi. In a race where there was plenty of trouble, Ernest Bale got into the clear down the back but it was his closing section that caught my attention. After a few 600m runs this campaign, he had plenty of strength on his side and he had this on full show as he charged away to a four length win running 30.25, but it was the 11.97 run home that had my eyebrows rising (Replay).

In the other semis My Silver Chisel (pictured) staved off Aeroplane Bob in 30.16 (Replay) whilst Invictus Rapid showed superior mid race pace to hold off the fast finishing Midwinter in a time of 30.13, and Harlon kept on going to narrowly defeat Marley Bale in 30.09 Best (Replay) and potentially give himself favouritism after drawing box one in the Group 1 final.

A fifth grade final rounded out the 12 race card at the Meadows and the potential stayer Shake ‘Em finished like a shot to claim the $6,260 first prize over Elbow Room, who has been a marvellous pickup for Ian Bibby from the 2014 Ready 2 Race Auction Series (Replay).

That wraps up another weekly metro wrap! Stay tuned for what will be a massive Group 1 Silver Chief Classic final on the first weekend of 2016.

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