He has been matching it with some of the best dogs in the country, so it’s hardly surprising that Fire Legend would eventually have his moment in the spotlight, and that occurred on Tuesday night when he took out the $40,000 Lismore Workers Club Lismore Cup.
The Mark Moroney-trained sprinter showed good speed on boxrise, and pushed his way through to lead on the first turn, then held off all challengers, taking the Cup final in 29.80s.
Before heading north for Lismore premier event, Fire Legend contested the TAB Million Dollar Chase series, qualifying through the Maitland series, then not having a lot of luck when fifth behind Waging War in the MDC semi-finals.
Moroney then decided to take Fire Legend and his sister Fire On Ice to Lismore for the lucrative series, but she came on season before the heats and missed the event. Fire Legend however led throughout to win his heat over Best Fit in 29.79s, and repeated the dose in the final, again relegating Best Fit into second position, 2¼ lengths away, with Oski a further 1½ lengths away in third.
Favoured runners All Hands Off and Queenslander Oh Mickey finished last and second last respectively. Oh Mickey missed the start losing all chance, while All Hands Off was checked on the first turn, seeing her hopes of winning disappear at that point.
But many would say the victory was a deserved one for Fire Legend, especially when you look at who he has been mixing it with while trained in Victoria by Jason Thompson during the winter months, before heading back to Moroney his owner, for the Million Dollar Chase series.
Australian Greyhound Of The Year, Simon Told Helen, one-time 2020 Million Dollar Chase favourite and 2019 runner-up Shima Shine, and Group 2 Western Australian Derby winner, and the Group 3 St Warragul St Leger winner Catch The Thief - all greyhounds which Fire Legend had finished second to during his stint in Victoria.
Any of that trio would have been unbackable at Lismore on Tuesday, but in their absence, Moroney’s Fire Legend was able to win his first Group event.
The win improved Fire Legend’s record to 41 starts for 19 wins and 12 placings, and the $40,000 cheque took his career earnings above the $100,000 mark.
