| 55 the New High
Even though a couple of meetings were cancelled due to work on the Wentworth Park track, the year ended with a record 55 sub-30-seconds wins over the 520 metres trip. The average speed of the top 10 quickest winners in 2008 was a new record of 29.662. The previous best year was 2005, when exactly 50 races were run in 29.99 or quicker. Yet the average of the top 10 was just 29.814, or .152 hundredths slower than 2008. In 2007 it was just 32 sub-30-seconds wins, with the top 10 quickest of these averaging 29.833. In 2006 it was 25 at 29.753. The meetings that were cancelled were the 28 and 30 June. Prior to the work on the track the number of sub-30-second wins stood at 27. So, with 28 since then there's been no real effect as far as overall times are concerned. The track record stood at 29.73 in 2003 when it was equalled by Collision. This was broken in 2005 by the enigmatic Benny's Toll who reduced it to 29.71. Paua To Burn blew this away with an amazing 29.51 in 2006. Of course, Queenslander Queen Lauryn first equalled and then smashed this time with her sensational 29.44 performance. So, I think I'm correct in writing this, for the first time in the long history of Wentworth Park, the track records for both distances are owned by interstate chasers.– Duncan Stearn (The author of The Ultimate Accolade: New South Wales Greyhound of the Year Title 1965-1985 and Bernborough: Australia's Greatest Racehorse. Visit www.bernborough.net for more information or email: duncanstearn@gmail.com) |