For Kongorong trainer John Little it was a case of his wins with litter sisters Bungaloo Sarah and Bungaloo Erin at last Thursday’s Tara Raceway time-graded meeting being his first double since September 22, 2019.
That was the day he was successful with Renmore and then later with Springvale Alysa who defeated Lektra Brandy in 30.05 seconds in a heat of Mount Gambier’s SA Country Cup (512 metres). Always on the pace from box one, Bungaloo Sarah opened her winning account at start number 12 in the Metal Worx Stake (400 m) for the Liz Newberry-managed Bungaloo Syndicate, in which Little is also involved.
The win came at her 12th start, the black June 2019 daughter of Pure Titanium and Bungaloo Sunset holding out Ice Cream Lady and Vesper Martini to win by a length in 23.94 seconds. Bungaloo Erin, only fairly away from box seven in the South Eastern Hotel 1-4 Wins Stake (400 m), just kept coming before finishing full of running in the home straight to defeat Giveaway Vegas by 41⁄2 lengths in 23.75 seconds.
Last Thursday’s double was the result of a real hands-on effort on the part of Little, who spent countless hours poring over pedigrees before coming up with the little-known sire Pure Titanium – a winner of six races from only 15 starts – for his seven-race Tara Raceway winner Bungaloo Sunset.
Then he bred the subsequent litter, reared the six pups he retained and then broke them in, conceding that at times it had been pretty tough going. “To be honest they’re still a real handful,” he said. “Even when out walking them there are times when I have to hang on for dear life. “I suppose it’s probably fair to say they have not really matured yet. “But having said that, five of the six pups I kept have now raced and four of those have won so really they’re not going too badly.”
Another litter bred by Little around the same time was one by Paddy Whacker out of Bungaloo Lucy, a winner of only one race at Tara Raceway but boasting a strong damline through Lady Grey.
Going around last Thursday in the Bartholomew Pick 6 Maiden Stake (400 m) was litter member Bungaloo Tex, a 36 kilograms black dog having only his second race start. And the big black dog accounted for himself pretty well, settling in third spot down the back before finishing the race off nicely for a three lengths second behind Over Load in 23.87 seconds.
Meanwhile, while all this is going on there’s another litter out at Kongorong that probably cannot grow up quickly enough as far as Little is concerned. That’s the one by Fabregas out of his former top chaser Springvale Alysa whose three dogs and three bitches were whelped in October last year.
He’s also keen to breed with eightrace winner Renmore, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Dervil, with the likely sire of choice being Mepunga Blazer. “Dervil is a litter sister to Colden Star who won 18 races and now has a smart litter by Mepunga Blazer currently going around in Victoria,” Little said.
And he’s still weighing up his options as far as sires are concerned for a second litter with Springvale Alysa, the $2000 purchase after three maiden runs at Angle Park who went on to win 22 races and $27,000 in stakemoney. Kevin Ward of Mount Moriac took training honours at last Thursday’s meeting after Tigers Nineteen, Joey Mac and Southern Thunder gave him his third treble of the year at Tara Raceway.
All told, he has now trained 19 local winners and is in third spot on the leading trainers’ list. Another trainer enjoying a good year is Edenhope-based Cap Abbott who took his local tally of wins to 16 after Banjo Bliss and Nyssa’s Girl won the final two races.
On a day of trainers’ multiple winners, Wade Green of Parwan also led in a double when Over Load and Warrior Jake – back among the winners for the first time since May last year – were successful.
The well-bred Warrior Jake, whose last win was over 400 metres at Gawler, found the front down the back in the Produce Store 1-4 wins (512 m) before going away to score by nine lengths in 30.22 seconds.
By Cosmic Rumble, the 37 kilograms black dog is out of the Group 1-winning stayer Bells Are Ringin who all told won 21 races and $284,000 in stakemoney.
