Tony (left) and Jan Jones with Star Anise after winning the 2019 Produce Final. PHOTO: Bob May
BOB MAY
EDEN Valley trainer Jan Jones claimed her second Gawler Produce Final in three years, when her runner Star Anise comfortably won the event on Sunday night at the Gawler greyhound track.
First raced in 1975, the produce is a ‘paid-up’ series conducted over three weeks, and this year’s was restricted to greyhounds whelped in 2017.
Star Anise drew the coveted box one in the 531m event, and used it to full advantage to lead from Stitch’em Cilla (seven) and Oakvale Beauty (two) as they ran out of the straight the first time.
Star Anise then showed her rivals a clean pair of heels to open up a big break and was never challenged, winning by six lengths and recording her personal best time of 30.70 seconds.
Stitch’em Cilla ran second for Lewiston’s Clint Trengrove, and Oakvale Beauty finished in third place for Pinnaroo’s Nathan Wilson.
Star Anise is trained at Eden Valley by Jan Jones and raced in partnership with her husband Tony.
Known as ‘Tilly’ in the kennel, she was obtained from a breeding deal with long-time Victorian racing friends Merv and Kay King.
Jan and Tony were very keen to take the pups, as they were bred from a front-running, city-winning female in Melbourne.
They secured a pair of pups at three months of age, and then reared them through to the education stage, before also taking on the training duties.
Unfortunately, the other pup was unsuccessful and is now a pet on their property, but Star Anise showed a lot of ability, with her career record showing nine wins and six placings from 19 starts.
She has a great record at Gawler, with three wins and a placing from five starts there, and a career perfect score from four starts out of box one.
Jan said she has learnt in racing that things don’t always pan out as you think, and that with such a good field it was very important in the final for Star Anise to lead.
Jan and Tony enjoyed the win, which sees their record in the event extend to two victories after they took out the 2017 series with ‘Dream A Little’.
Racing at Gawler has now returned to every Friday and Tuesday afternoon.
