HOBART track record holder Bergermeister looks set to make his presence felt in the upcoming Aceland Stud Hobart Thousand series following an emphatic win at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart yesterday.
Bergermeister began well from box two and quickly forged a two-length break on his rivals heading to the top turn.
The Mick Stringer-trained dog then accelerated away from the rest of the field and hit the line almost four lengths clear of Galtee Again with Decembrist doing his best work at the business end to grab third but four lengths astern.
Bergermeister stopped the clock over the 461-metre trip at 25.91s which was outstanding given no dog has been able to break 26 seconds at either of the last two meetings at the venue due to the condition of the track and prevailing weather.
The dog holds the track record of 25.71 that he set on July 28.
“It was probably the acid test run because you aren’t sure if they can bounce back from a bad injury but I was rapt with the way he raced and I’m confident he’s back to where he will be very competitive at the top level,” Stringer said.
Bergermeister sustained multiple injuries as a result of a freak mishap while exercising in a yard at Stringer’s Brighton kennels.
“Soon after he broke the track record at Hobart (late July) I let him out to have a gallop and a play in one of the runs near the kennels.”
“But for some reason he made a charge at the gate and ran straight through it, knocking the gate off its hinges and he near killed himself,” he said.
Stringer was devastated but the dog was nursed back to health, although just to make sure everything was in good order inside, Bergermeister was sent back to his owners, Bob and Michael Clarke in Victoria.
“Bob Clarke arranged for Bergermeister to be taken to top Victorian greyhound vet Des Fagan to have the dog thoroughly checked and he (Fagan) pretty much gave the dog a clean bill of health,” Stringer said.
Bergermeister resumed racing in Victoria where he had two starts in the care of Paul Westerveld.
But neither of his two runs for Westerveld was encouraging.
At his first run back Bergermeister finished near last in a mixed grades 4-5 at Warragul on October 4 beaten almost 22 lengths and at his subsequent outing he was fifth in a grade five at The Meadows four days later.
The dog was sent back to Stringer soon after and he set about preparing the son of Bit Chilli fore another major campaign.
At Bergermeister’s first run back with Stringer the dog was a shade disappointing in finishing second to the inform Baretta Bee at Devonport.
“I was a bit worried when he led by a good margin turning for home at Devonport but he was run down,” Stringer said.
“I thought that he may have lost his desire to race and that’s why I was really on edge before this latest race.”
“But he really delivered and there is no doubt he is back to where he was before the accident,” he said.
Stringer said Bergermeister would go straight into a heat of the Aceland Stud Hobart Thousand at Tattersall’s Park on Thursday week.