Bewildering enhanced his reputation as Australia’s fastest greyhound with a stunning victory in the Speed Star match race series at Sandown Park last night.
Well supported in both overall and head to head markets, Bewildering poured on the speed to run away from group 1 winner Black Mumbo in the home straight and stop the clock in 29.030 seconds. It was the fifth fastest time ever recorded at Sandown Park, the second fastest time ever recorded in a Speed Star behind Smart Missile’s 29.006, and the fastest since Unlawful Entry’s 28.951 track record in March 2016.
It was also Bewildering’s second victory in the format following his victory in the Bill Collins Speed Star in May in which he ran 29.119.
“We thought that was about what he could run and he delivered which was good,” said kennel representative Jason Thompson, deputizing for his wife Seona.
“It shows how fast the dog is. It’s one thing to do it once or twice but to maintain that speed and improve on what he did earlier in the year, it’s unbelievable how fast he is.
“The only worry I had was if he had drawn on the inside because he likes being right in the centre of the track. The format suits him and the draw suited him.”
Bewildering is stunning in his Speed Star win
Later in the evening, star stayer Burn One Down made it a feature double for Thompson when claiming the Stayers Challenge when running 41.695.
Typically tardy out of the boxes, Burn One Down surprised everyone when he pinged the lids and record the fastest first split.
“We were a bit slack on him training wise,” Thompson conceded after the run.
“He’d done a bit of travelling so we backed off on him a bit and might have had him a bit too fresh!
“But he got the job done. He went 30.34 off the back so it would have been interesting to see what he could have run in a 600m race. He’s been ultra-consistent through his career which is a credit to the dog.”
Burn One Down shows early speed in the Stayers Challenge
Other event winners on the night included Thirty Talks (29.413) and Not Available (29.433) in the Speed Star consolation events, Rockoon (29.522) in the Young Guns, and Zipping Angus (34.234) in the Galactic Diamond.
Speed Star ‘Super Sunday,’ which saw 24 match races across six events and over all race distances, was a collaboration between the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club, Greyhound Racing Victoria, TAB and Sky Racing. Greyhounds qualified for their respective series based on the times run at the track in the preceding three months, showcasing greyhound racing’s fastest chasers in the sport’s most pure form – two dogs racing head to head.
@sandowndogs speed star night was excellent and a big punting fill up. @DaveCarlsonSKY and @Jayvdm91 were outstanding on sky2 as well
— Michael Tye (@kingtye1) September 10, 2017
Back to back SpeedStar's this year to our Archie. Brilliant concept and night at @sandowndogs great work @MickFloyd https://t.co/Dl0qaPe88S
— Bill Buccilli (@Bill_Bucci) September 10, 2017
@sandowndogs love the coverage, would be great to see more coverage like it for the bigger races!
— Mitchell Carman (@MitchellCarman) September 10, 2017
Well done to @sandowndogs on a great night! Great to see the SpeedStar over all 3 distances!!
— Jess Hopkins (@hopkins_11) September 10, 2017
Well done to @Jayvdm91 @DaveCarlsonSKY on their professional coverage regarding @sandowndogs "speed star" innovation.
— Michael McGuane (@MickMCG34) September 10, 2017
Click here for full results from Speed Star Super Sunday.
Click here to learn more about the concept.
