THE Hobart Maiden Thousand has unveiled many top grade performers over the years and the latest to have his name engraved on the winner’s list Zavance Man could be Tasmania’s next star act.
In front a big crowd at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart last Thursday night Zavance Man emulated the feats of super star Damek of two years ago by winning his Maiden Thousand qualifying heat and semi-final before taking out the $10,400 final.
The win put $7000 in the bank of his owner Debbie Cannan.
But it also gave trainer Ted Medhurst his first Maiden Thousand winner which was the only feature race on the Tasmanian calendar to have eluded him in over 25 years of training.
Medhurst prepared 100 winners last season but this latest win probably meant more to him that any of last season’s triumphs.
The trainer shies away from the media these days but his strike rate and dominance in feature races is so good he automatically becomes a target for interviews and subsequent added exposure for the code.
Zavance Man will no doubt continue to make his presence felt in whatever he contests in the coming months.
It was an incident-packed final with Night Train showing the way early from box five while Zavance Man avoided trouble by staying wide from box seven.
The race looked like developing into a thriller when the slow coaches started to close in on the leaders rounding the top turn.
But when Shanlyn Hirdy (6) slipped into overdrive he ran into the back of the pack that resulted in a chain reaction back through the field.
This allowed Zavance Man to collar the leader Night Train while the well-fancied Emerald Lee was dragged down from behind and Impressive semi winner Times Of Grace fell heavily when making ground.
When Zavance Man assumed control he bounded clear and went on to defeat Wynburn Voodoo by almost five lengths with Emerald Lee a length astern.
Zavance Man (Head Bound-Its A She) is prepared by Medhurst for fellow trainer Debbie Cannan who had a great working relationship with Medhurst when she first became involved in greyhound racing about eight ago.
Cannan trains Emerald Lee that was impressive in wining her semi-final in a time of 26.36sec that was only three-hundredths of a second off Zavance Man’s time in wining his semi.
Emerald Lee was closing in along the rails when she was dragged down but she did a good job to recover and run on to grab third.
The Scott Bryan-trained Wynburn Voodoo was a gallant second and will win her chare of races.
Wynburn Voodoo began well from box two and trailed the leaders into the top turn and then ran on strongly along the rails to hold down second.
The winner’s purse of $7000 would have been enough to make any owner happy but as Cannan and Medhurst also are members of the Hobart Greyhound Racing Club they each received a $2000 bonus making it a more than handy windfall.