Spoils to Schafer in easy Cup win
THE Cairns Greyhound Club had their Cup Carnival finals on Tuesday night and with closely contested races, there was plenty for the large crowd to celebrate.
Burdekin trainer Heath Ardle kicked off the night with Swap Me winning the novice in 24.04secs and had another winner in Race 4 with Poppy Chooky taking it out in 23.97secs.
Townsville’s Graham Thomson celebrated after his youngster Magic Gizmo took out Race 2 the Irene Drury Memorial Maiden final running 24.14secs.
Fellow Townsville trainer Robert Lound also celebrated when Breaker Charlie won the Fishery Falls Hotel 4/5th Grade final in 24.04secs and the kennel mate Rockin’ Ringo ran third.
Race 7 was the Lounds Fresh Seafood Cairns Cup Consolation over 544m and it was a close finish after Slow Dancer for Glen Olsen set a hot pace with Nova Party try- ing hard to catch the leader.
As they rounded the bend into the home straight Slow Dancer was still in front with Nova Party gaining ground on leader.
Nova Party lunged on the finish line to win by a head from Slow Dancer in 32.19secs, giving victory to Lound.
The feature event of the night was the Babinda Electrical Cairns Cup over 544m.
As the lids went up Townsville trainer Jay Schafer’s dog Natty’s On Fire went straight to the lead with Swift Nimrod getting to second.
Natty’s On Fire provided Schafer with his first cup final winning in 31.74secs (a new PB) scoring by 3.75 lengths from Swift Nimrod for George Tsakissiris and Choc Latte Cloud for Michael Fusco.