Gutsy Madiba Man back on track

MADIBA Man ran a lightning 22.01 seconds over 383m in November last year, and there is a lot of anticipation on how he’ll run at Winnellie tonight.

The four-year-old will make his return from a seven-month hip injury for race three at 5.45pm.

“No dog has got close to that run (of 22.01 seconds), but he might not be as good as that run after his hip injury,” trainer Ron Phillips said.

“But he’s gutsy and he’s very good.”

Phillips – fourth on the Dar- win Greyhound Association trainers’ premiership standings – also has Call Me Deita (race one) and Storm Blazer (race seven) running, who are laststart winners.

Russell Savige’s two-yearold Knieval will run her first race against Madiba Man, and another one to watch – Graeme Ferns’ Fabbenz – will feature in race three.

Race five is a strong field featuring Bombay Rock (Andrew Lasker), Crystal’s Way (Jamie Hosking) and Hanson Harley (Graeme Scott).

Hanson Harley was a winner last-start and, another last- start winner – Richard Carr’s Raving Thunder – should also be competitive.

Race six is set to be a closely fought one, with Boobery (Joel Vansleve), Hello I’m Mikey (Scott) and Mrs Conners (Hosking) all in with a good shot.

Leading DGA trainer Hosking will be confident of a strong run from Wayne Outwide in race one over 312m, the twoyear-old winning his last run over the same distance by twoand-a-half lengths.

The growing DGA club has a maiden field for race four.

Race one is at 4.56pm.