Black Comanche Sets Record Pace At Grafton

BOOM Queensland youngster Black Comanche broke the Grafton 450m track record and became the first dog under 25-seconds there when he went 24.97 today in a trial.

The Greg Stella-trained, Peter Hare-owned son of Zambora Brockie-Thalia's Way is now likely to run in a graded race there on Sunday.

Robert Cooke's Cash View holds the Grafton 450m track record at 25.01.

Stella said the fact south-east Queensland racing was being restricted to Ipswich for the immediate future, because of flood impact at Albion Park, had forced his hand with Black Comanche.

Ipswich Sat Jan 29 2022
Vince Curry Memorial Semi Final 2. 520m
1st – Box 5 Black Comanche – Greg Stella
2nd – Box 2 Hara's Herbie – Jemma Daley
30.17 (5.36 – 12.96 – 11.85) 7 3/4 x 3
King Cole – 30.93 (3rd) Mohawk Mindy – 31.43 (4th) pic.twitter.com/bUcde7zPvp

— John Brasch (@Bunny_Brasch) January 29, 2022

“He's just not handling that first turn at Ipswich,” said Stella.

“I thought it would be best to give him a run on a big track.

“And, now he will have a few race starts there as well.

“He's got to be raced to overcome his sometimes tardy box manners.”

Black Comanche will head towards the heats of a 450m 5th Grade series on Sunday with Stella eyeing the up-coming Grafton Cup series.

“I was looking through the programs and I see the Cup is coming up early in May at Grafton,” said Stella. “It's worth $25,000 to the winner.”

The Group 3 Grafton Cup (450m) heats will be run on May 1 with the final on May 8.

Black Comanche has now started six times for four wins. He was the subject of a $100,000-plus offer just after he was luckless in the Group 3 Vince Curry Maiden final at Ipswich.