Memorial win to Forty Twenty

NORTHERN raider Forty Twenty claimed the second Group race of his career with a hard-fought victory in the $36,000 Group 2 Maidment Memorial at Sandown Park last Thursday night (28 January).
Having his second start at Sandown Park, Forty Twenty ($5.10) showed great track sense to rail strongly after a poor start and took up second position behind favourite Next Top Model ($1.60) as they entered the home straight the first time.
Forty Twenty continued to rail, taking the lead as Join The Queue ($37.70) made his run. However the Central Coast stayer never left the rail in the run to the line and defeated Next Top Model by 2.75 lengths in 42.45 seconds.
“To race here at Sandown Park at such a great track is a huge thrill,” ecstatic trainer John Heard said. “I stayed at Stevan Shinner’s place (in Pearcedale) and I’ve been treated like royalty. It’s been a fantastic thrill and I’ll back here with Forty Twenty real soon.”
The win was Forty Twenty’s second at Group level and took his career earnings to almost $120,000.
Heard will now set his star stayer for the Group 2 Gold Cup at Wentworth Park before taking aim at Australia’s richest race for stayers, the $143,000 Group 1 Radio Sport 927 Sandown Cup.
Earlier in the night, Jason Thompson’s exciting youngster Shredded Cheese took out the $14,500 GOTBA Cup in a slick 29.88sec.
The night also saw Graeme Bate’s versatile star Amity Bale take out the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club’s Greyhound of the Year title.
Amity Bale, owned by prominent greyhound identity Paul Wheeler, won over the 515m and 715m journeys at Sandown in 2009, including a victory in the Group 2 Sir John Dillon Memorial, six more wins and six placings in her 17 starts at the track.