In Brief
- Outsider gallant in defeat.
- Quinella both break 30 seconds.
- Rivergum Chief makes impressive return.
Popular greyhound Hello Rhonda took out the feature of the night in Launceston Monday, the Chilli FM Invitation over 515m.
Hello Rhonda was well found by punters ($3.10 into $2.10 favourite), but was made to work for the victory, with less than a length separating the first three dogs across the line.
Hello Rhonda, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Sing The Song jumped from box three and with a first sectional of 5.05 seconds, the quickest of the race, headed straight to the rail but hot on her heels were It’s Phyllis ($51.00) and Be Like Bill ($4.20).
Given the gap in their respective starting prices, many would have expected Hello Rhonda to put a space on the Wayne Williams-trained It’s Phyliss who gained a start as first emergency, but that wasn’t the case and the final margin of 0.75 lengths was a fair reflection of how close the race was.
Rivergum Chief takes out race 8 in dominant fashion in Launceston.
The overall time of 29.94 seconds was the fastest of the five 515m races run on the night, and the winner of the Group 2 Launceston Cup earlier in the year, Hello Rhonda looks set to tackle the upcoming Devonport Chase and Hobart Thousand in the next month.
Earlier in the program, the Mick Louth-trained Telfer ($1.70) did what was expected albeit by a small margin. There were generally a number of close finishes on the program, with seven of the 10 races decided by a length or less, but the biggest exception was the win of Rivergum Chief ($1.85) in race eight. He was resuming off a six-month break but an eight length demolition in the fastest time of the night for the 278m races, shows he can quickly add to his five career wins.
Watch the replay of Hello Rhonda winning race seven last night.