Finalists from heats on 12/4. Includes $200 Unplaced.
Prize money: $25000 / $5500 / $3500
Named after the inaugural winner of the Golden Easter Egg in 1990, the Ultra Sense is a listed event which has become a part of the two week Egg carnival each year.
Run for the first time in 2013, the event for fourth and fifth grade greyhounds, has been won by some smart greyhounds since El Brooklyn took out first running of the Ultra Sense in 2013.
Jason Magri took out the feature event in 2019 with Zipping Falcon, completing a big night for owners Marty and Fiona Hallinan, who also won the 2019 Golden Easter Egg with Zipping Bailey.
The entire Golden Easter Egg Carnival was abandoned in 2020 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the event was back bigger than ever in 2021.
The Listed Ultra Sense - named after the inaugural Golden Easter Egg winner - saw some promising dogs compete, and all four heats winners had amazingly each won wearing the pink rug.
In the final it was the John Little-trained Redshift Seven who sprung to the lead and wouldn't be headed.
2021 Ultra Sense Winner - Redshift Seven
The 2022 Ultra Sense saw one of the best graded, best boxed runners of the night go around in Castle Warrior and the Mark Wilcox-trained greyhound did not disappoint ... but only just.
Although slowly away, Castle Warrior - who won the Bulli Gold Cup a few runs earlier - used his draw and mustered speed to rail through and lead on the first turn, but the Ruth King-trained Lochinvar Lona was quickly into second and made a real race of it, getting dangerously close to the favourite in the run to the post.
Castle Warrior outlasted Lochinvar Lona in the 2022 Ultra Sense final
Castle Warrior won the 2022 Ultra Sense for trainer Mark Wilcox
In 2023, Rivello, trained by Peter Mattress for owner-breeder Peter Spiteri, surprised by running down hot favourite Oro Rojo to snare the $25,000 first prize.
"That is the biggest race I have won as a trainer,'' Mattress said.
"And I must admit to being surprised because in the heats on March 31 each of Rivello's seven final rivals won in faster time. But she has been gradually improving and getting stronger at the end of 520m."
"Her problem has often been that because she runs wide, her opponents keep getting underneath her. Rivello was formerly trained by Andy Lord, who won Saturday night's Gartelmann Wines New Sensation with Tommy Kade, another of Peter Spiteri's greyhounds."
"I was training a few dogs for Peter [Spiteri] when he contacted me and explained that because Andy had too many dogs he needed to place Rivello elsewhere and asked me to take her.''
2023 Ultra Sense winner Rivello with a pumped up Peter Mattress
