Punter’s Bandit, who looked a forlorn hope in the middle stages, produced an electrifying finish to edge out kennelmates Grim Madara and Coast Model in Saturday night's $25,000 to the winner Ladbrokes Summer Six-Hundy at Gosford.
Winner of the 515m Beast Unleashed Gosford Gold Cup last month, Punter's Bandit's win gave Sydney's leading trainer JODIE Lord the trifecta in Saturday night's 603m feature event.
Her greyhound Coast Model made the pace but was joined leaving the back straight by kennelmate Grim Madara, and they disputed the lead on the home turn.
Punter's Bandit, sent out at the luxurious odds of $4.20, was still back in fourth spot at that point yet roared down the outside to score by three quarters of a length from Grim Madara with Coast Model a half length away third.
The winner clocked 34.72, well outside her personal best Gosford figures of 34.21 but not surprising considering she had to come from so far back to score.
"That was a massive effort as she had to make up around 15 lengths from the half-way mark,'' Lord's husband Andy said.
"Punter's Bandit will now go to Melbourne for Saturday night's group 1 The Rookie Rebel over 600m at The Meadows.
"She has box eight and will be awfully hard to beat from that draw, especially as she has had a look at The Meadows over the 600m trip.''
Punter's Bandit is raced by the Punters HQ Syndicate, with her victory giving that group of owners a night to remember as they also own She's A Pearl, winner of Saturday's inaugural running of the Queen Of The Coast.
It was appropriate that She's A Pearl should win that event as she is considered greyhound racing royalty, and is the best in NSW and arguably Australia-wide.
She's A Pearl came from behind to take out the 515m event, with the JODIE Lord-trained sensation easing in the betting from $1.35 to $1.45.
Despite being beaten to the first corner by Ron Asquith's vastly improved Scramjet, She's A Pearl swept around the pacemaker on the back straight and came away to beat him by four lengths.
She's A Pearl covered the distance in 29.11, .16sec inside her previous best Gosford time.
She has now won 29 of her 47 races with Saturday's romp taking her earnings to well over $1,619,970.
Andy Lord said later: "Although she didn't go straight to the front tonight I don't think She's A Pearl has lost any of her early zip, it's just that she has not quite worked out the Gosford starting boxes yet.''
Just 21 minutes after She's A Pearl's win, Canya Smoke Them gave trainer JODIE Lord another success with an all-the-way victory at his middle distance debut in a 603m fifth grade.
Canya Smoke Them began cleanly from box four and came away to score by five lengths, reeling off the trip in 34.37, outstanding figures for a rookie middle distance performer.
Canya Smoke Them's time was a mere .16sec outside the track record established by John Finn's Blue Moon Rising on New Year's Day 2019 and equalled by Punter's Bandit on January 24.
French Martini, another newcomer to middle distances, went .04sec faster when she led throughout to win her 630m fifth grade on Saturday night in 34.33.
The Peter Lagogiane-trained LADBROKES GARDENS 515m record holder had no trouble handling the additional distance and won by nearly six lengths after jumping in front from box four.
Like Punter's Bandit, French Martini will also contest Saturday night's group 1 The Rookie Rebel over 600m at The Meadows, before reverting to 520m for events like the group 1 Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park.
"French Martini has drawn the cherry in The Rookie Rebel which is great,'' trainer Lagogiane said.
Trained by Michelle Sultana for Australia's most successful breeder, SA-based Ray Borda, Aston Ulysses, a $2.40 chance, took his NSW Masters tally to five wins from six starts with a blistering 28.98 performance over the 515m trip.
Those figures were a mere .10sec outside the 28.88 track record posted by Wow on December 27, 2020.
Zipping Kyrgios, having his first outing in Masters company, was a $1.50 favourite and jumped in front but was beaten for early pace by both outsider High Expectation and by Aston Ulysses.
The winner took the lead on the back straight and while Zipping Kyrgios made up some ground, the winner had more than five lengths to spare at the finish and after the field rounded the first corner was never going to be beaten.
Saturday's main short course race, the 388m Ladbrokes Lightning final, was taken out by the John Miles-trained Laurie's Alonso, who led throughout from box one in a personal best 21.95.
The odds-on favourite Vamoose, a litter brother to Laurie's Alonso and trained by Miles' partner Susan Smith, bungled the start from box five and was always rearward, finishing unplaced.
