Staying wunderkind Here’s Tears was destined for staying stardom from birth.
And his ‘distance DNA’, call it familial traits, were evident when he provided Lara trainer Robert Britton with his second Group 1 Fanta Bale Super Stayer’s (725m) title at The Meadows tonight.
Britton won the race in 2018 with Fanta Bale – a superstar of the sport who is Australia’s highest stakes earning greyhound ($1,365,175). Subsequently, the race was named in honour of the dual Australian Greyhound of the Year.
Britton said: “I feel honoured they named the race after her… She probably deserved it.”
But he was even more glowing of Here’s Tears, a younger full-brother of five-time G1 winner Tornado Tears. (Incidentally, Tornado Tears finished fourth in last year’s Super Stayers final.)
“Absolutely relieved… I thought he had to lead to win, but to be a distant third at the halfway mark, I just thought I hope he can run a place,” Britton told Molly Haines on 7mate’s Thrill of the Chase after the event.
“I’m just lucky that I’m involved with this line (Fernando Bale X Tears Siam); it’s absolutely sensational and has been for a number of years… I just count my blessings,” he added.
In a race that didn’t exactly pan out as expected in the initial stages, Here’s Tears ($4.00) positioned third early – albeit around six lengths off the lead – but refused to toss in the towel and in a driving finish defeated True Detective ($3.20) by three-quarters of a length, with Just Terms ($2.50F) a neck away third in 42.31sec.
Owned by the Millmi Syndicate and bred in NSW by Michael Ivers, Here’s Tears notched his 11th win from 26 starts. The $100,000 first prize spiralled his stakes to $156,695.
Here’s Tears revealed his X-factor in late January when he set a new 715-metre track record of 41.16sec at Sandown. He lowered a mark set by WA distance dynamo Miata that had stood for nearly eight years.
So, back to hereditary. Here’s Tears sports distinctive black mask-like colouring around his eyes, almost identical to Tornado Tears who naturally has been christened “Batman”.
And you know what? He may even inherit the ancestral ‘staying crown’!
