Yet another country cup for Yozo Bale, and another feature race success - his second in 24 hours - for Victorian trainer Correy Grenfell was the outcome of Friday night’s Group 3 Graeme Hull Memorial Wagga Gold Cup Final.
A night after Grenfell had won the Group 1 Harrison Dawson at Sandown Park in Melbourne, with his kennel superstar Tiggerlong Tonk - ironically a dog that originally hailed from Wagga - the young trainer had another Group victory when Yozo Bale crossed his rivals from box 8, and once in front never looked like being run down.
The winner of the Bendigo and Ballarat Cups in 2020, claimed another country feature with a slashing 29.84s performance. Only track record holder Deliver has ever gone quicker, that dog clocking a stunning 29.71s in a heat of the Million Dollar Chase in 2019.
For Grenfell and his wife Samantha, it was a clean sweep. Xavien Bale finished second, with Usman Bale collecting third place while their other finalist Knicks Bale was seventh.
Trainers always plot and plan where to place their dogs, and while sometimes it doesn’t work out, other times is works with precision, and that has been the case for the Grenfells.
Before the series began last week, Correy said the idea behind going to Wagga with Yozo Bale was so they could separate he and kennelmate Tonk">Tiggerlong Tonk">Tonk, and give Yozo Bale an easier assignment than tackling the cream of the sprinting world in the Harrison Dawson. It worked well, with Tonk winning one event and Yozo the other.
Yozo Bale has been one of the most consistent greyhounds in recent times in quality races.
Apart from winning the 2020 Bendigo and Ballarat Cups, he was second in the Warrnambool Cup and Geelong Cup, and won the Ballarat Cup Consolation in the past month, and in February he ran second to Wow in the Group 1 Temlee.
Yozo Bale has now raced 62 times for 24 wins and 20 placings and won more than $270,000.
The consolation of the Cup saw a tremendous battle between two dogs unlucky not to be in the main event – Incapacitated and Victorian Nikoli Bale.
The pair jumped well and matched strides out of the straight the first time, then all the way up the back straight with Nikoli Bale three quarters of a length ahead, but unable to cross Incapacitated.
Swinging for home the strength of the Justin King-trained greyhound came to the fore, and Incapacitated powered along the inside and got the better of Nikoli Bale to win by 1¼ lengths in the time of 29.98s, with Russian Sub finishing third, 3½ lengths behind the runner-up.
