Tongues wag after another Ipswich final surprise

THE time honoured Vince Curry Memorial Maiden series at Ipswich never fails to produce a result that gets tongues wagging.

Corbould Park race caller Paul Dolan overlooks the Caloundra RacetrackPhoto: Warren Lynam / Sunshine Coast Daily. Picture: Warren Lynam

THE time honoured Vince Curry Memorial Maiden series at Ipswich never fails to produce a result that gets tongues wagging.

Who could forget Just the Best in 1999?

The Paul Felgate trained rising star won the final by 14 lengths after a heat win by 18 lengths and a semi-final win by 19 lengths.

Then there was 2016 which produced the only dead heat in the race's long history. Not only a dead heat, but the joint winners Split Image and Paua to Burn were trained by Tony Brett.

Last Saturday Rose Honey won the 2018 Vince Curry final for Gatton's Christina Harman.

In the process Harman became the second trainer to win the race twice, the other being Tony Zammit. And she is the first woman to win the race twice.

Rose Honey is by Fear Zafonic, an English import who stands at the property of Harman's parents Tony and Jane Apap. The dam of Rose Honey is Wag Tail who Harman trained for 18 wins including the 2014 Ipswich Winter Cup over 732 metres.

Rose Honey carved across from box eight to lead all the way in the Vince Curry in 30.78. There have been faster winners over the years but nevertheless it was a faultless display.

And with the Wag Tail staying bloodlines, who knows where the future lies?

Ipswich's extra workload

THE Albion Park greyhound track needs a major reconstruction of the racing surface. The track is closed from today until March 18.

Given that south-east Queensland only has one other TAB greyhound track, that being Ipswich, that's the venue which will soak up the extra workload.

Starting this afternoon, there will be racing at Ipswich on 17 consecutive days or nights.

Today's meeting starts at 2.59pm.

Tomorrow, it's a 5.17pm start.

Sunday's racing is from 5.24pm, then into next week. Monday is a night program from 6.43pm.

Albion Park's Sunday meetings are run mainly over 331 metres. That will convert to 288 metres at Ipswich, with every race this Sunday being over that course.

The track record for 288 metres is 16.77 seconds, set by Alota the Best in 2012 when a few such races were programmed.

Trial times at the Showgrounds track need to alter during the hectic racing schedule and will be held on the next two Wednesdays after the twilight race meetings that day.

Grass track racing

FOUR heats of the Bundaberg Cup will be run tomorrow afternoon.

Bundaberg is one of a handful of grass greyhound tracks remaining in Australia. The Cup series is run over 550 metres.

There's a few Ipswich and Brisbane based trainers with runners in the Cup heats, including Amy O'Reilly, Chris Riordon and Selena Zammit.

The final tomorrow week carries a winner's cheque of $5250.

Kerry Perrett from Withcott won the Cup last year with Under Advice. There is no TAB betting on Bundaberg meetings.

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