By MICHAEL FLOYD
DYNA Villa etched his name into greyhound racing folklore with a brilliant win in Friday night’s $600,00 Group 1 TAB Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park.
Unbeaten in three starts from box 8, Dyna Villa began brilliantly to cross the stellar field and lead through the first turn. As the rest of the pack settled Dyna Villa shot clear, opening a six-length break over his rivals down the back straight in what proved to be a race-winning break, stopping the clock in a slick 29.36 seconds.
Chica Destacada chased valiantly to reduce the margin to two lengths at the line, with favourite Keybow a further two lengths away in third.
Despite qualifying for the final as the fastest heat winner, Dyna Villa opened a $4.40 chance after the box draw before being backed into a $3 second favourite by starting time.
The win extended Dyna Villa’s remarkable unbeaten record at Sandown Park to eight starts and improved his overall record to 14 wins from just 22 starts. The $420,000 first prize took his career earnings to $466,635, a remarkable figure for a greyhound that has only just turned two years of age.
It was the first TAB Melbourne Cup win for trainer Jenny Hunt and the second victory for owner Brendan Wheeler following Dyna Tron’s success in 2011.
Earlier in the night, crowd favourite Sweet It Is took out her fourth Group 1 success for 2014 with a stunning victory in the $145,000 Solo Bold Trease.
Despite running second in her heat, Sweet It Is was sent to the boxes a $2.25 chance and favourite-punters had their hearts in their mouths when the popular daughter of Mogambo drifted back to second last at the winning post the first time around.
With Zipping Maggie and Space Star duelling for the lead, Sweet It Is found trouble. Six lengths adrift after one lap, Sweet It Is weaved her way through the field before again being held up coming off the back straight. However once finding clear running room, Sweet It Is unleashed a finishing burst worthy of the race’s namesake, sweeping past Space Star to claim the $100,000 first prize by a rapidly expanding five-and-three-quarter lengths.
Sweet It Is ran an eye-catching sixth in the same race in 2013, however it wasn’t until the move to master trainer Darren McDonald’s kennel in March 2014 that saw her elevate herself to the upper echelon of history’s great stayers.
In 20 starts in McDonald’s care, Sweet It Is is yet to miss a place, winning on nine occasions including four times at Group 1 level. Remarkably, in each of her Group 1 wins, Sweet It Is ran second in her heat before claiming the final.
Sweet It Is improved her overall record to 15 wins from 47 starts and boosted her career prize money to $594,565 elevating her to sixth position all time.
Completing a big night of racing, Hostile used box 1 to perfection to take out the Listed Cup Night Sprint for Darren Beasley, while Brooke Ennis claimed the Listed Berwick Mazda Middle Distance with Oscura.
