All hail Last Hurrah who reigned supreme in the Kings vs Queens Grand Final (350m) at Healesville on Sunday.
Moderately away from box two, Last Hurrah ($2.50F) was midfield in the initial stages but produced his customary whirlwind finish to defeat Eye Catcher ($3.10) by 0.8 lengths, with Busy Bella ($30.40) a further 1.86 lengths away third in 19.26sec.
WATCH: Last Hurrah’s (2) trademark late finishing burst secure him victory in the Kings vs Queens final at Healesville.
Trained by Brett Nye, Last Hurrah collected a $5,000 ‘royalty’ for his straight track dash and notched his 16th win from 40 starts.
In fact, the John Maple-owned speedster ruled with an ‘iron paw’ during the three-tier ‘Kings’ & ‘Queens’ series. Last Hurrah also won a Kings heat in 19.45sec and the Kings final in 19.19sec – both also from box two. (He’s now had six starts from the ‘check’ alley for six wins.)
“He just loves the ‘fence’… I hope it can stay like that,” Nye said. “He’s a class dog, but he just lacks early pace.”
Nye, 28 – who has only been training for eight months – thanked Matthew Nash for his guidance and Maple for showing confidence in allowing him to train Last Hurrah.
A refrigeration mechanic by trade, Nye left family and friends and moved from the border town of Barooga in NSW to Nash’s greyhound complex in Little River almost 12 months ago.
“I miss the place (Barooga) every day, but I chose to have a red-hot crack at greyhound training… It’s not an easy field to crack into, but I’ve been lucky,” he said.
It was a red-letter day for Nye who prepared a treble on Healesville’s Sunday program. “I just couldn’t believe it… I didn’t know what to do,” he said.
Nye – who also owns star speedster Barooga Brett – is off to a flying start in 2020, largely courtesy of Last Hurrah.
“A fortnight ago, I trained my first winning double ever and my first winner for 2020. And now I’ve got six wins on the board for the year,” he said.
Last Hurrah has a touch of class, having reached the finals of the G2 Geelong Gold Cup and G3 Sir John Dillon Memorial. He also contested a semi-final of the Million Dollar Chase.
Nye added that Last Hurrah’s next assignment will be next month’s G2 Cranbourne Cup series.
Pawnote: Nye’s treble also included Rothwell Gal ($10.90) – 19.29sec over 350m; and Done It Again ($1.70F) – 16.78sec over 300m.
