By Luke Corda
Gun stayer Jarick Bale made headlines on Thursday night at Sandown Park, with a breathtaking win to claim the Maidment Memorial for trainers Mark and Lisa Delbridge.
Jarick Bale begun towards the back of the field as star chasers Invictus Rising and Aston Ulysses hit the front around the first bend. From that point Jarick Bale turned on the afterburners and hunted the pair down to score by two lengths in a fantastic 33.77 run.
His scorching run home earned him a spot in the top 10 fastest times ever recorded at Sandown Park over the 595m.
Trainer Lisa Delbridge was delighted with the result.
“To run down Invictus Rising and Aston Ulysses from where he was is huge,” she said.
“He’s different this one. Christo (Bale) would have hooked around the outside, whereas he wants to get to the fence. He had the brains to go inside of Aston Ulysses then around the outside of Invictus Rising which was pleasing.”
His show-stopping performance adds to a growing resume following his recent Group 1 victory in the Sale Cup on Boxing Day. The Delbridge family have high hopes for Jarick Bale’s immediate future.
“He’s number one now. Compared to before with Christo, Rambo and Gracelyn his sister, Jarick’s the leader,” Delbridge said.
“He’ll be entered straight into the Rookie Rebel. It’d be stiff if he didn’t get a start after the Sale Cup and tonight.”
Later in the night Grenfell trained Nikoli Bale was a dominant winner in the evening’s Australian Sprint special event.
He used brilliant track sense to stalk down Tynslee Bale and Carry On Star before bursting away to win by 10 lengths, taking out the $15,000 first prize with a quick 29.25.
Earlier on Aston Rupee was announced as the Sandown GRC 2021 Greyhound of the Year in front of a lively crowd on course.
Aston Rupee was a winner of nine races from 15 starts at Sandown in 2021, breaking the 29 second barrier on four separate occasions including an unbelievable 28.79 track record.
All meets for Sunday were cancelled Saturday morning, due to the condition of the track after Friday’s rain.
