Non-Graded Final 520m (Group 3)

Finalists from heats on 27/4. Includes $2 unplaced.

Prize money: $25000 / $5500 / $3500

The Bob Payne Sprint was first run in 1961 as the Winter Stake over the 457m at Harold Park.

Following the retirement of the GBOTA chairman Bob Payne in 1985, the race was renamed in his honour, and became the Bob Payne Winter Stake.

Following Harold Park’s closure in 1987, the event moved to Wentworth Park, and would eventually undergo another name change to become the Bob Payne Sprint.

Over time the race has been won by numerous smart sprinters including: Woolley Wilson (1972), Snow Report (1985), Camden’s Ghost (1986), How’s The Fort (1992), and Go Wild Teddy (2000).

In 2019, five months before he would win the world’s richest greyhound race the Million Dollar Chase, the Frank Hurst-trained Good Odds Harada defeated 2018 Chase runner-up Jamella Jet to win the Boy Payne Sprint.

Like so many features in 2020 the Bob Payne was abandoned, but it was back in 2021 with some of the most promising sprinters in the State making their way through to the final.

And it was John Finn winning the race with the talented Zipping Kyrgios, two decades after he won the feature with Winsome Dollars.

Emotions were running high after the 2022 Bob Payne Sprint when Mark and Mel Davidson celebrated their first Group race success with Lektra Lad.

Making light of his box seven draw, Lektra Lad speared across to lead at the post and then was able to open up a big lead heading up the back when the field jammed behind him.

Victory was guaranteed by the home turn and the Davidsons got to celebrate a memorable night.

Lektra Lad had 2 1/2 lengths to spare over Flighty Fernando with Simply Limelight third. The winner clocked 29.76s.