By Peter Quilty
Wow She’s Fast – the sport’s Annie Oakley – ‘shot the lights out’ in the $72,500 Group 3 Shootout (515m) at Sandown Park on Saturday night.
Trained at Pearcedale by Jackie Greenough, Wow She’s Fast proved she’s the ‘fastest gun’ in Australian greyhound racing with a bullet-like, come-from-behind win in the $50,000 to-the-winner four-dog face-off.
Exiting from Box 3, Wow She’s Fast was a conspicuous last at the winning post the first time around but stuck like glue to the rail rounding the corner.
Then, with amazing mid-race acceleration, she quickly gathered up NSW superstar She’s A Pearl – reigning Australian Greyhound of the Year and Australia’s highest stakes earner – approaching the home turn, prompting excited racecaller Dan Hibberd to exclaim: “Wow She’s Fast has got the inside, drives through, races away… Wow She’s Fast!”.
The withering finishing burst resulted in Wow She’s Fast ($1.70F) defeating She’s A Pearl ($2.70) – a Million Dollar Chase and G1 Golden Easter Egg winner – by 2.4L with another Million Dollar Chase winner, McInerney ($7.80), a further 1L away third. G1 Topgun hero Photo Man ($9.90) was 4L in arrears of the winner.
Wow She’s Fast clocked a slick 29.28sec – around 4L off the 29.03sec race record, set by Tiggerlong Tonk in 2020.
It was her 16th win – including seven of her past nine – from 23 starts. She’s now 11 from 13 over 515m at Sandown Park. Her stakes shot to a cool $1,228,370.
Wow She’s Fast became the eighth Shootout winner out of the ‘white’ alley, including five of the past six.
The dual G1 winner (Sapphire Crown and Maturity Classic) is only the second female to win the Shootout since its inception in 1998 – the other being Xylia Allen (2013).
Victorian sprinters have now been victorious in 20 of 25 Shootouts, including the past eight. And race favourites have won 14 of the past 21.
Owned by Greg Sprod and Tyrone Whittington, Wow She’s Fast is a four-time G1 finalist, having also contested the Adelaide Cup and Topgun.
On-track interviewer James Van De Maat proclaimed immediately post-race on racing.com: “The ‘Queen of Victorian greyhound racing’ does it in the Shootout!”
He quickly caught up with Greenough and asked: “You must be tickled pink with the win?”
A shell-shocked Greenough simply said: “I’m very happy to see that. As they were going to the first corner, I thought ‘oh, oh, we’re in trouble’. But she took off and just kept going.”
When also asked by Van De Maat: “What do you feel like heading into the Melbourne Cup? What’s the emotion?”
Greenough quipped: I’d like her to come out of the boxes a bit better, that’s what I would like.”
Van De Maat also added: “Confidence levels now for the Melbourne Cup heats next week. Does it pick up now that she’s had that come-from-behind, dominant win?”
“I don’t think coming from behind was her problem, it was getting through the field,” Greenough replied.
Meanwhile, ‘eight wonders’ are guaranteed a spot in next week’s Melbourne Cup heats after winning Preludes (515m) on the program.
Time honours went to the Brooke Ennis-trained Amron Boy ($4.50) in 29.15sec.
Then followed: Plaintiff ($2.70F) – 29.32sec – Jason Thompson; Paddy Wants Pats ($3.70) – 29.34sec – Kelly Bravo; Kelsey Bale ($1.70F) – 29.42sec – Daniel Gibbons; Yachi Bale ($6.80) – 29.46sec – Mark Delbridge; Quinlan Bale ($4.70) – 29.53sec – Daniel Gibbons; Valor Bale ($7.40) – 29.57sec – Mark Delbridge; Salad Dodger ($7.00) – 29.62sec – Anthony Azzopardi.
