Think of a Maserati and you think, sleek, stunning, the envy of others, and above all, very fast.
While the four-legged Maserati may not quite top the 325km/h of its Italian designed namesake, it does hum along, and had a few at Grafton on Wednesday night looking on very enviously.
This Maserati is the ZIPPING variety and he had tongues wagging about his future after taking out the $20,000 final of the Clarence Valley Sheds Maiden at the new track.
One of the first litters to hit the track by boom young sire ZIPPING Garth out of Marty and Fiona Hallinan’s 2016 Ladies Bracelet winner Zipping Lilly, ZIPPING Maserati showed tremendous burn to rush through and lead and then gave his rivals no chance winning in 25.34s from the Ned Snow pair Blue Carat and San Polo.
“Could a young stud dog get off to a better start?” ZIPPING Maserati’s trainer Jason MACKAY said of ZIPPING Garth, a dog of enormous ability who he trained and whose unbeaten race career was cut short through injury.
“The first ever time they put a clock on ZIPPING Maserati, he blew the clock away,” trainer Jason MACKAY said. “He just showed some genuine raw ability from that first time.
“He ran 17.57s at Bathurst, that’s what the best free for all dogs in Sydney would run, and he did that at his second run.
“His first trial at the Gardens he ran 22.54s out the 400m, I’ve never had one do that and then his first go at Richmond he went 22.49s and again I’ve never had one run that.
“(ZIPPING) Garth went 22.62s at the Gardens at the same time, so he had a got over a length on him in this early stage, and as you know we only got a glimpse of Garth but he had a big motor.
“He’ll go well at Maitland, and at Bulli and Grafton, but he’s a two corner dog. He explodes through bends and when his time comes to go around two bends, he’s going to really let go.”
MACKAY was delighted with the way ZIPPING Maserati had pulled up from the run, and now plans to give the dog a “quiet couple of days” before planning what’s next.
“Probably Monday week we’ll go to Maitland in a low grade race, and give him a couple of soft 500ms at the Gardens then just play it by ear, but there’s no set plan, no feature race, he’ll just go through and earn his stripes,” MACKAY said.
“He’ll tell me what’s next. He’s got that brilliant temperament, he wants to chase and he can recover quickly. Sometimes they can get jagged and knocked around for a few days but he’s bouncing out of his skin.”
The success of ZIPPING Maserati ticks a box for the stud prospects of ZIPPING Garth who had his brilliant racing career cut short due to injury after he won his first five starts in stunning fashion.
“He’s had nine or 10 winners and he’s only just started,” MACKAY said. “He’s had a couple of winners at Cannington, a couple at Mandurah, a couple at Ipswich, a couple at Grafton and one at Maitland, and the majority of his pups have got high speed, and are showing as soon as the lids open. If they aren’t leading, they are burning to the first turn and that’s what you want. He’s going to throw a stack of that into his pups.
“There was nine in this litter and one is a little immature so she is spelling and I’ve kept the other eight and it’s a very nice litter. He (Maserati) was always the pick, but there is a couple chomping at his heels who go pretty good and I haven’t produced them yet.”
ZIPPING Maserati’s owner Marty Hallinan admitted that the dog probably could have done with another six weeks of preparation before Grafton, but the event was “worth having a crack at” so they did.
“He’s a very, very young dog (19 months) and he probably needed another six weeks,” Hallinan explained. “But we knew he was good, and thought it’s worth having crack at, so we did and it’s turned out really good.
“Like Jason said he’ll be a better two turn dog as he does drive into the corners, but I think he’s got a nice little future ahead of him. The whole litter does.
“It’s a good litter and I rate it one of the better litters I’ve had for a while. He’s (ZIPPING Garth) my stud dog and people think you’re blowing your own trumpet, but he’s had a few winners, and I think there’s about five or six litters starting to race, and he’s had around 100 litters in the first 14 months.
“It’s been a good start to his stud career.”
The Grafton carnival was good for MACKAY, winning the Stayers Cup as well with Cool Bourbski, the sister of star stayer Sunset Bourbski who has only been in his kennel for three runs.
MACKAY has quickly become a devotee of the new Grafton track, not simply due to plundering their feature races.
“I’m a huge fan of the Grafton track and all credit to Tony (Mestrov GRNSW CEO) and Wayne (Billett, GRNSW COO) and their team, and (President) John Corrigan and the Grafton club,” MACKAY said.
“It is brilliant. What I have seen up there, the bends, the circumference, the surface, for mine, most races will have no interference and no injuries. Every now and again you may get a jam up, but I tell you what it’s the safest and best set up I have ever seen. It’s the ant’s pants.”
The Sprinters Cup was the other feature at Grafton, and it was a thrilling contest with the Michelle Lill-trained More Sauce collecting a deserved feature race win when he held off Steve Kavanagh’s Louis Rumble.
The win was the 11th of More Sauce’s career with another seven second placings to go with it.
