Dave Knocker’s expert eye for a greyhound is set to reap a $75,000 reward with fastest qualifier Lektra Rhino in Thursday night’s Group 2 Golden Sands (600m) at Albion Park in Brisbane.
Lektra Rhino is unbeaten in two appearances for Knocker, after the respected Pearcedale educator and Group 1-winning trainer approached owner/breeder Phil Lenehan about giving the G1 Maturity Classic finalist a change of scenery.
“He’s been a nice little find, the dog,” Knocker said.
“He’s had two starts for us for two wins and I’ve got no doubt there’s plenty of improvement in him.
“I walked into the house one night and Sandown dogs were on, it was half-way through the race, and something caught my eye. I rewound it and thought, ‘Gee, this black dog has good ability.’
“I said to Jake (Loverso), who’s my daughter Kayla’s (Cottrell) boyfriend and works with us, that this dog has all the ability under the sun, and I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on him.
“Jake knew his owner, Phil Lenehan, who was training him, and mentioned to Phil that I wouldn’t mind training him and he decided to send the dog to us.”
A son of Zambora Brockie that turns three on January 16, Lektra Rhino had his first start for Knocker at The Meadows on December 14, where he was a barnstorming last-to-first winner over 525m, posting 30.06sec, his first success since July 17.
He then ventured to Queensland for last Wednesday’s heats of the middle distance Golden Sands.
WATCH: LEKTRA RHINO (B3) is the fastest qualifier for Thursday night’s G2 Golden Sands in Brisbane after a dominant all-the-way heat victory, clocking a Best Of Day 34.74sec at his Albion Park debut.
Lektra Rhino started $8 from box 3 in the first of four heats and continued his perfect start for his new kennel with an emphatic all-the-way win, defeating favourite Zipping Alabama by 4.5 lengths in a fast 34.74sec.
Lektra Rhino, which travelled north with Knocker’s daughter Kayla Cottrell and is staying with champion local mentor Tony Brett, was the only heat winner to break 35 seconds.
It was his 13th win from 52 starts and the performance was all the more noteworthy, considering Lektra Rhino had won only once in eight middle distance assignments at The Meadows and Sandown Park.
After drawing box five for Thursday night’s final – race 7 at 9.29pm – Lektra Rhino is the $4.40 second elect, with NSW star Zipping Kyrgios (box 7) $3.10 favourite, despite running second in the ‘slowest’ heat (35.27sec).
“I flew up on Saturday and he went up the straight at Tony Brett’s place on Sunday morning,” Knocker explained.
“The dog had trialled at Albion Park and won his heat since he’d last been checked, so Kayla asked me to come up and run my hands over him.
“Before his trial, Tony (Brett) said if you break 10 seconds to the first mark, you’ll be happy. Lektra Rhino went 9.86sec, and then in the good race that night (Middle Distance Challenge) they ran 9.80sec. He went 9.78sec in his heat.
“Tony has one in the final (Milligan) and he said to Kayla, ‘If Lektra Rhino leaves the lids like he did last week, they’ve got to catch him.’
“If he goes straight to the front again and runs 34.70sec, then Zipping Kygrios has got to run 34.60sec to beat him.
“He’s settled in real good at Tony’s, he’s pulled up well and we were hoping he’d draw in the middle, so I couldn’t wish for a better lead-up.
“Win, lose or draw on Thursday, we know what sort of dog we’ve got!”
Victoria will also be represented in the G2 Bogie Leigh Futurity Final (520m), race 6 at 9.11pm on Thursday, by Kelsey Bale (box 8), trained by Daniel Gibbons, which is equal $3.50 favourite after being beaten a nose in her heat last Thursday night.
