IT was an exciting Sunday night with the 2020 Gawler Produce Stake final being run, and the long-awaited return to the track for greyhound racing fans after some restrictions were lifted.
Gawler Greyhound Racing Club manager Shawn Noack said the club took a fairly “low-key” return with some COVID-19 restrictions in place, but that it was great to see familiar faces return, and some new faces that had never attended a Greyhound race meeting.
“Everyone adhered to the restrictions and it made for an enjoyable night to watch a great Produce Final being run,” he said.
Air Marshall, trained by Ray Murray, was the favourite for the final – and based on the heats his semi-final run, he deserved to be so.
Drawn from the red box-one, Noack said the general feeling was that nobody thought he could.
Those were found to be dead wrong, with Air Marshall jumping up in the boxes, losing that initial speed.
This gave the Paula Hearnden-trained Long Gully Barny the chance to make the most of the opportunity, and it did so by taking the lead around the first turn ahead of See You Smile.
Air Marshall moved through the pack up to third position, but still well off the pace off the pace along the back straight.
Long Gully Barny rounded the final turn with room to spare, and despite See You Smile making it interesting late, it wasn’t enough to close the gap. Long Gully was able hold on and win by one-and-a-quarter lengths, setting a personal best time at Gawler over the distance to win in 30.77 seconds.
Finishing in third place with a strong finish was outsider Spring Burner in an impressive run for Greg Board.
Naturally, Hearnden was ecstatic to take the win after registering a few second-placed finishes in previous years’ edition of this race.
Watching the replay, she was humble and said she had some fortune with Air Marshall missing the start. Ray Murray, whilst disappointed, said Long Gully was always the risk and was full of congratulations for Hearnden and her greyhound.
Hearnden said she will see how Long Gully Barny is tracking toward October when the Gawler Gold Cup is being run, and with luck, he will contend for the bonus $10,000 for winning both events in the year.