Raymond Smith had a number of his chargers in at The Meadows last Saturday with Jungle Deuce in the feature of the night the $150,000 TAB Top Gun Sprint over 525m against the crème de la crème of the greyhound racing fraternity.
Coming from the eight box, Jungle Deuce ($18.80) was always going to have his work cut out trying to beat debatably the fastest greyhound on the planet in Aston Rupee, the South Australian Glenn Rounds trained $2.20 favourite and that’s exactly how the script played out.
Despite a sterling effort, Jungle Deuce couldn’t catch the nimble KC and All by As-ton Millie flyer who scooted away from the field to win by nearly one and half lengths from Tiggerlong Tonk and Do It with Jungle Deuce back in 6th.
The race before Midnight Flash faded to 7th from the two box while in Race 6 The Top Gun Stayers, firm favourite Miss Ezmae ran a credible 4th behind Gypsy Wyong, Zipping Niseko and Super Estrella – the latter two she defeated last start. While Smith will be content he will also know it was his race to win with Miss Ezmae who put in one of her poorer recent performances.
Regardless of the results, his greyhounds have had a tremendously successful year breaking records and dominating on the rural NSW circuit especially in Bathurst of late.
For the Smith clan it is now a chance to regroup before assessing the next move for his kennel of champions – watch this space!