By MICHAEL FLOYD
POPULAR young trainer Brooke Ennis landed four winners on Thursday evening at Sandown Park, including both Listed feature events.
Lady Toy took out the night’s opening feature, the Listed Maidment Memorial (595m), with an impressive railing effort in 34.13.
A renowned slow beginner, Lady began relatively well to assume a rails position behind early leader Come On Fantasy. Despite being crowded for room through the catching pen, Lady Toy held her position and displayed an impressive turn of foot down the back straight, eventually railing under the early leader to claim a powerful four-length victory.
Lady Toy, or ‘Lucy’ as she’s known at home, only arrived in Ennis’s kennel over the weekend but hasn’t taken long to make an impression on her new trainer.
“I’m very happy with her, she’s a lovely dog” said Ennis.
“I think she probably misses Jim (her owner) a little bit but she’s settled in well. I didn’t expect her to win tonight, the 595m is a bit short of her preferred distance, but she jumped well and put herself in a good spot.”
The win was a welcome surprise; especially given nominating for the race was not the preferred option.
“We actually nominated for a 715m race but there weren’t enough nominations for a race to go ahead.
“She’s going to Perth with My Bro Fabio, Deadly Vane and Blinker’s On… we wanted them all to have the same preparation going into their respective series (Perth Cup and Galaxy), so rather than have her miss out on a run we thought we’d put her in (over 595m). It worked out well.”
In the night’s second feature, My Bro Fabio reminded all why he is regarded as one of the most exciting greyhounds in the country with a stunning last-to-first victory in the Listed Australian Sprint.
Despite a tardy getaway, My Bro Fabio enjoyed a clear run through the first turn before unleashing a devastating burst down the back straight to sweep around his high-class rivals and storm to a one and one-half-length victory in a slick 29.27.
Kennelmate Dream It held on for second, giving Ennis the quinella.
