By RUSSELL BENNETT
HOW sweet it must have been for Devon Meadows’ trainer Darren McDonald to win the world’s richest staying greyhound race at Sandown on Thursday night.
He and his family have been through more than their fair share of health battles recently but those tough times were blown away as ‘Sweet It Is’ turned on the afterburners to claim the $250,000 RSN Sandown Cup in front of a massive crowd, which included the likes of Eddie McGuire and Wayne Carey.
Just like her trainer, Sweet It Is showed plenty of fighting spirit to claw her way back from the brink – she was 10 lengths adrift of the leader and last in the field with a lap to run in the 715-metre race.
But the $1.90 favourite wouldn’t be denied, and on the one-year anniversary of the passing of McDonald’s father no less.
Sweet It Is had a reputation leading into the race as a lightning-fast finisher and her legend only grew as she unleashed a devastating closing burst to win by one-and-a-half lengths in 42.04 seconds.
McDonald was blown away, much like the rest of the field in the race’s closing stages.
“You can’t really describe the feeling,” he said outside the kennels straight after the stunning run.
“Your heart is in your throat and it’s about ready to pop out of your mouth, and then there’s just this incredible relief straight afterwards.
“There are so many hours that you put into getting these dogs ready and it doesn’t always come off like it did tonight.”
But Sweet It Is, or ‘Zoe’ as she’s known at home, is no ordinary racer. Since she joined McDonald’s kennel just two months ago she has won three races and finished second four times in seven starts. Two of those wins were Group 1 races and she’s netted connections more than $260,000 in prize money.
“She’s had some of the biggest runs I’ve been associated with in dogs’ racing,” said McDonald, who has also claimed Melbourne Cups, Australian Cups, Golden Easter Eggs and Topguns in a decorated career so far.
“She always just gets out the back and charges home.”
McDonald wasn’t surprised to see his dog trailing in the race’s early stages.
“That’s her pattern, that’s just how she races,” he said.
“One day she’ll get a clean run and really carve out a good time but the times don’t really matter – if they win the race that’s all that counts, and she seems to have a habit of winning the right races, which is even better!”
McDonald paid tribute to a seemingly endless list of friends and family that turned out to support him on Thursday, adding that they’re what make the result so special.
“I’ll continue to try and get this feeling back again next week, and the week after that,” he said.
“Whether it’s a fifth-grade race or a Group 1 race it doesn’t matter. All of your effort and work goes into it.”
The Sandown Cup, Race 8 on Thursday’s card, followed another win for McDonald – with ‘Awesome Project’ taking out Race 5, the Berwick Mazda Cup night sprint.
Between McDonald’s two big winners, connections netted $190,000 on the night.
