In a spectacular night of racing, one of the standout performances in Friday’s Pink Diamond extravaganza at Bendigo came from boom prospect Koblenz, which claimed his ninth straight victory with a near-record performance in the Rookie Sprinter Final (500m).
It was a special moment for the Geall family, with Koblenz trained by David Geall, bred by his wife Rose and raced by the Gealls Gals syndicate, including Rose and Marie Geall, who’s married to David’s brother Jeff.
Showcasing the best in greyhound breeding, the superbly bred son of Fernando Bale and Geall’s former star Up Hill Jill started $2.60 favourite from box one and after flying out he was never in danger of defeat, downing Aston Fastnet in 27.67sec.
The scorching run was only .15sec outside Midnight Ride’s track record and improved his record to 14 from 19.
“He’d done it eight in a row but the worry is that you’re getting closer to getting beaten obviously, so that’s the worry, but he just came out running,” said David Geall.
“He’s a bit like his mum and dad, isn’t he?
“It’s great for my brother and his wife. They did the right thing buying a half-share in him.”
Away from the three Champion finals, the night started according to script with favourites winning the first two finals.
Diamond Ability (Raw Ability x Anastasia) won the Maiden Short Course Final (425m) for leading trainer Anthony Azzopardi and owner/breeder Kylee Osborne, Azzopardi’s partner, in 23.98sec.
