BOB MAY

IN an unusual occurrence, three members of the Johnstone family all trained a separate winner from littermates at Gawler greyhounds on Friday afternoon.

The first winner was in race three – a grade six event over 400m – which saw Nancy Lee, from box seven, lead all the way to win by the convincing margin of nearly six lengths, in a time of 22.91 seconds.

Second was Spicey Jill, for Meningie’s Tim Richards, and So Foxy was third, for Lewiston’s Bob Isaacson.

In race nine – also a grade six over 400m – the Johnstone runner was Cuddles Lee, starting from box two.

Cuddles Lee was running in second place for most of the race, but finished with a well-timed run to overtake the leader, Diamond Lee, as they neared the line to win by a head.

Diamond Lee was second, for Gawler River’s Angela Modra, and Abigarrado ran third, for Moppa’s Vadim Roz.

The Johnstones’ final winner came in race 11 – a grade five 400m event – where their runner, Resolute Lee, sat in behind early pacemaker Dawn To Dusk, and then took the lead as they headed
into the straight.

Resolute Lee scored by two-and-a-half lengths from Dawn To Dusk, trained by Lewiston’s Ben Rawlings, with Jervois Boy finishing third, for Tim Richards.

It was a real Johnstone family affair on the day, with the winners shared equally between them.

Nancy Lee is trained by Darrell and Kathy’s daughter, Kim; Cuddles Lee is trained by Kathy; and Resolute Lee is trained by Darrell, making it a rather unique result.

The winners are all from the same Brett Lee and Banjo Blaze litter, which produced a large litter of 12 pups and was bred by Darrell and Kathy.

Banjo Blaze was trained by Kathy and had run some fast times in her six wins from 31 starts, which provided a good foundation for breeding.

Of the three winners, Resolute Lee is currently the most successful, having chalked up nine wins and 10 placings from 28 starts, and has won his last four races on the trot – all at Gawler, and over the 400m and 531m distances.

Darrell and Kathy have been involved in the sport from its earliest days in South Australia, and with Darrell’s late father, Brian, starting the involvement, Kim is the third generation to be a trainer.

Racing is held at Gawler every Friday and Tuesday afternoon.