Sign On Garfiney goes fastest to give Anthony Slattery an A4 winner

SIGN On Garfiney was Greyhound of the Year at Tralee last year and the October ’14 son of Razldazl Rioga and Ruby Cu, owned and trained locally by Anthony Slattery, showed exactly why he merited that award by scoring a terrific victory in the concluding 11th race at the Oakview venue on Saturday night.

Now in A4 class and a 2/1 shot in the betting, Sign On Garfiney was housed in trap 1 and he made maximum use of his rails position to gain the advantage on even-money favourite, Saleen Anna, on her inside rounding the first bend. That was to decide the issue, more or less. Sign On Garfiney determinedly held the advantage on Saleen Anna all the way to the line and he beat her by a length in a fastest of the night 29.07 for the standard trip.

The night’s programme also saw Farranfore owner, Michael O’Rourke, complete a double with litter sister and brother, Westwind Magic and Westwind Majesty.

Westwind Magic, a 6/4 shot housed in trap 1, found herself five lengths adrift of Oak Link (trap 6) rounding the third bend in what was the second race (A9/ A10 525), but she was able to pull him back and then win by a length from Hazy Opinion in 29.85, with another length back to Oak Link.

Westwind Majesty (also 6/4) followed up by easily winning the fourth race (N2/ N3 525) on his competitive bow. He took a flier from trap 3 and totally controlled matters to the line where he had six lengths to spare from Teevee Ruby in 29.55.

Crowd-wise, it was very much the calm after the storm following the excitement of the Race of Champions 24 hours earlier, but, at the same time, there were some remarkable tote dividends, with the winner of the tenth race, Headleys Bud, a 2/1 shot with the only bookmaker present, Patsy Browne, paying €50.10 to a €1 win unit and the winner of the seventh race, Sarges Uggs (6/4), paying €25.50 to a €1 win unit.

The respective winning times by Headleys Bud and Sarges Uggs were 29.24 and 17.91, while the other winners were: Bambam Tornado, 18.30; Kilcurra Poppy, 18.41; Beslow Bow Bow, 29.83; Mohane Rocky, 29.62; Baltovin Peril, 29.99; Teecee Clipper, 29.29.

Winners at Saturday afternoon’s SIS session at the Oakview venue: Cork Tosso, 29.68; Spirit Pio, 29.40; Lassinagh Spring, 29.25; Banfid Lead,29.34; Tallulah Jones, 28.84; Corrig Rose, 29.33; Parason Mario, 29.03; Tokenfire Abbie, 29.08.