New award for fop greyhound

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33778, 26 February 1975, Page 14

New award for fop greyhound

Apart from their outstanding successes, the three longtails have little else in common. Their breeding, colour and racing mannerisms differ widely. Tip Top. owned and trained by the veteran sup-

(By

BOB SCHUMACHER)

Three dogs to h»’.»e done the Marshland Domain track proud with their racing performances last year — among them they have won more than 30 events — will be on parade at the inaugural Canterbury “Greyhound of the Year” dinner on Friday evening.

Thre three finalists — two bitches. Tip Top and M’Lady, and one hound, Red Baron — have carried off the honours in most of the Christchurch club's feature events.

porter of the sport, Mr Bill Kingston, is a black bitch by Busy Bomber from Jill’s Flight. She possesses a fine turn of speed and would have had an even better record except for misfortune in the running and seasonal complaints. Tip Top first indicated that she was one to beat with sterling runs to win the Air New Zealand puppy stakes and a progressive flat at the 1974 New Zealand championship meeting in January. She completed another double at a meeting in March when she took both novice-limit flats. But in July she really showed her class in the best of company. An impressive win over Smooth View and Red Baron in the open flat at the Phoenix Cup meeting was followed, in August, by success in the South Is-

land championship; she finished resolutely to account for Torque and M’Lady in the final. The youngest greyhound in the trio, M’Lady, represented the first venture into the sport by Mr Jack Davison. She first appeared last March and was placed in her maiden debut. M’Lady, a light fawn bitch by Radara from Moss Patches (a good winner herself), portrayed little in size or looks, but she showed herself a longtail of the best calibre. In the months of April and May, M’Lady swept all before her and won six consecutive races. It included a heat of the Mayor’s Cup and the final, both in excellent times. M’Lady earned herself a trip to Auckland when she won the South Island final of the New South Wales St Leger in August and, before leaving, she took the

honours in the Lord Shannon Cup final. Since then, M’Lady has raced in the North Island, and with some success, the most notable being the New Zealand Sires’ Produce Stakes at Auckland. Red Baron, the most experienced chaser, has been a model of consistency throughout his career. By the Irish import, Hi Ratio, from the open class bitch, Moon Girl, the striking looking brown dog with a white nose and chest won his heat of the New Zealand championship last year and led throughout in the final. Red Baron, owned by Mr Kurt Wehrmann, was then trained by Brian Cantwell. Cantwell produced him to win several open flats in the next months before he was shifted to the kennels of Howard Brown. Brown did not have im mediate success with h new charge, but a win in -

limit flat ended the drought in August. Back to his best, Red Baron won an open flat later that month and, in September, he showed courage to head Tip Top in the Merv. Gibson trophy open distance feature.

After being placed in an open flat, Red Baron won his heat of the Harding Cup in October and returned a superb performance to take the final. He later finished second in the Fred Horwell memorial before winning his beat and the final of the Robinson Rose Bowl in November. Since that meeting, Red Baron has been dogged by injuries and he has yet to recover from these setbacks. The winner of the inaugural award will be announced on Friday evening. The judges were the greyhound reporters of the two Christchurch newspapers and the New Zealand asso■iation stipendiary steward, . Ir Ray Adcock.