Jason Mackay has a hot night on the Grafton Greyhound track as Maserati speeds home

There was plenty of action for the main night of the Grafton Greyhound carnival, with the new track being lauded as one of the best in the state

It was time to cool down for Running Numbers after taking out a final at Grafton Greyounds.

It was a hot night of action at the Grafton Greyhounds on Wednesday night for the main night of their annual July Carnival.

With a 10-race program, it was the best way to show off the new track which was recently rebuild and refurbished.

And for many, they said it had turned it into one of the hottest tracks in the state.

Think of a Maserati and you think, sleek, stunning, the envy of others, and above all, very fast.

While the four-legged Maserati may not quite top the 325km/h of its Italian designed namesake, it does hum along, and had a few at Grafton on Wednesday night looking on very enviously.

This Maserati is the Zipping variety and he had tongues wagging about his future after taking out the $20,000 final of the Clarence Valley Sheds Maiden at the new track.

Zipping Maserati breaks clear to win the Clarence Valley Sheds Maiden at Grafton Greyhounds.

One of the first litters to hit the track by boom young sire Zipping Garth out of Marty and Fiona Hallinan’s 2016 Ladies Bracelet winner Zipping Lilly, Zipping Maserati showed tremendous burn to rush through and lead and then gave his rivals no chance winning in 25.34s from the Ned Snow pair Blue Carat and San Polo.

“Could a young stud dog get off to a better start?” Zipping Maserati’s trainer Jason Mackay said of Zipping Garth, a dog of enormous ability who he trained and whose unbeaten race career was cut short through injury.

“The first ever time they put a clock on Zipping Maserati, he blew the clock away. He just showed some genuine raw ability from that first time.

“He ran 17.57s at Bathurst, that’s what the best free for all dogs in Sydney would run, and he did that at his second run.

“His first trial at the Gardens he ran 22.54s out the 400m, I’ve never had one do that and then his first go at Richmond he went 22.49s and again I’ve never had one run that.

“He’ll go well at Maitland, and at Bulli and Grafton, but he’s a two corner dog. He explodes through bends and when his time comes to go around two bends, he’s going to really let go.”

Mackay was delighted with the way Zipping Maserati had pulled up from the run, and now plans to give the dog a “quiet couple of days” before planning what’s next.

“Probably Monday week we’ll go to Maitland in a low grade race, and give him a couple of soft 500ms at the Gardens then just play it by ear, but there’s no set plan, no feature race, he’ll just go through and earn his stripes,” Mackay said.

“He’ll tell me what’s next. He’s got that brilliant temperament, he wants to chase and he can recover quickly. Sometimes they can get jagged and knocked around for a few days but he’s bouncing out of his skin.”

Zipping Maserati’s owner Marty Hallinan admitted that the dog probably could have done with another six weeks of preparation before Grafton, but the event was “worth having a crack at” so they did.

“He’s a very, very young dog (19 months) and he probably needed another six weeks,” Hallinan explained. “But we knew he was good, and thought it’s worth having crack at, so we did and it’s turned out really good.

“Like Jason said he’ll be a better two turn dog as he does drive into the corners, but I think he’s got a nice little future ahead of him. The whole litter does.

“It’s a good litter and I rate it one of the better litters I’ve had for a while. He’s (Zipping Garth) my stud dog and people think you’re blowing your own trumpet, but he’s had a few winners, and I think there’s about five or six litters starting to race, and he’s had around 100 litters in the first 14 months.

“It’s been a good start to his stud career.”

Jason Mackay with daughter April celebrate winning two major races on the finals night of the Grafton Greyhound carnival, with Zipping Maserati and the Stayers Cup with Cool Bourbski.

The Grafton carnival was good for Mackay, winning the Stayers Cup as well with Cool Bourbski, the sister of star stayer Sunset Bourbski who has only been in his kennel for three runs.

Mackay has quickly become a devotee of the new Grafton track, not simply due to plundering their feature races.

“I’m a huge fan of the Grafton track and all credit to Tony (Mestrov GRNSW CEO) and Wayne (Billett, GRNSW COO) and their team, and (President) John Corrigan and the Grafton club,” Mackay said.

“It is brilliant. What I have seen up there, the bends, the circumference, the surface, for mine, most races will have no interference and no injuries. Every now and again you may get a jam up, but I tell you what it’s the safest and best set-up I have ever seen. It’s the ant’s pants.”

More Sauce wins a tight finish in the Stayers Cup at Grafton Greyhounds.

The Sprinters Cup was the other feature at Grafton, and it was a thrilling contest with the Michelle Lill-trained More Sauce collecting a deserved feature race win when he held off Steve Kavanagh’s Louis Rumble.

The win was the 11th of More Sauce’s career with another seven second placings to go with it.