Cole's dominance challenged

The invincible grip held by Lisa Cole-trained greyhounds on the main events in meetings of the central districts region was broken during last Friday's Hatrick and Monday's Palmerston North meetings.

Last Friday it was the Matt Roberts-prepared Cawbourne Buckle who led home seven Cole trained runners in the main C3/4 520m race.

Then at the Manawatu Raceway on Monday, the Bill Hodgson-produced Nitehawk Rose delivered a potent last to first win in the $11,470 feature over 457m, again leading home seven greyhounds from the Cole kennels.

Those two greyhounds will take on five chasers who are conditioned by Cole in this evening's main C4/5 520m event (Race 9).

This will be a considerably tougher assignment for Cawbourne Buckle, as she now steps up to take on hardened open class greyhounds.

Nitehawk Rose looms as a serious contender to again lead home Cole's chasers here.

She has drawn the one trap; a trap that she strongly favours.

We know that she owns strength at the business end of her races, as seen on Monday.

However Cole, who is currently sitting on a remarkable 112 winners for the new season, has the necessary firepower engaged in this race to occupy the entire post race podium.

Take a look at the talented litter brothers Allegro Gun and Spring Allegro, for example.

Both greyhounds are proven at the elite level and either of them are more than capable of leading this field all the way.

Holding the same ability is Bigtime Paddy. He has produced a number of sub-30 second 520m times around this circuit.

A finishing time in that region this evening would be sufficient for him to rack up another win at this venue.

Kennelmates Bigtime Jay Jay and Bigtime Caleb can both sniff out a minor stake if any of the other above greyhounds make an early mistake.

The Cole dominance in the open class short course sprints in the region remains firmly intact.

This evening's 305m open class dash (Race 5) sees four sprinters from the Cole operation drawing the inside four traps.

Bigtime Opal and Bigtime Crackem are anticipated to dominate at the sharp end of this dash, while their kennelmates Bigtime Sugar and Bigtime Doug can be expected to finish in close attendance.