Cole Reaches Record Mark With Eight Winning Haul

COVID-19 stopped New Zealand racing for five-weeks, however even the virus couldn't stop the potent Lisa Cole training machine from smashing her own Kiwi national trainer's record.

Big Time Roxy finished strongly to win her 457m race during Tuesday's Manawatu meeting and in doing so became the 862nd winner mentored from the Cole kennel for the 2019/20 season.

Husband Brendon Cole is adamant that the kennel would have strode through the 1000-win barrier if it wasn't for the COVID-19 enforced five-week shutdown of New Zealand racing.

"We were flying when we stopped racing,” Cole said.

“During the shutdown we marked time with our dogs, which put back the younger ones we were bringing up when we restarted racing. The thousand was a goal we had set for ourselves – we'll have to target that next season now.”

Yes, one can only imagine what the final training figure would have been come the July 31 conclusion of the current New Zealand racing season.

Remarkably Cole is likely to achieve another season training milestone, possibly during Friday's Hatrick meeting.

Two seasons ago she set a national stake earning record for a term with $2,089,530. 

Greyhounds mentored by her commenced this afternoon's meeting having won $2,047,134 in stakes.

What makes this figure even more astounding is it being attained with not only the five-weeks removed from the season, but also following the suspension of all group and feature races from the national NZ calendar since March.

Numbered among the abandoned black-type events at the elite level were four key restricted races, including the 2020 New Zealand Derby and Oaks. 

Replacement races for greyhounds who missed out on their once in a lifetime blue ribbon classic opportunity are likely to be raced in September.

"The loss of those key races hurts, not only in loss stake-money, but more so when looking at the future breeding plans for the greyhounds involved. Having group race winning blood is crucial in assessing their market values," advised Cole.  

It has been a roller-coaster ride for the Cole team as six charges laid against Brendon Cole by the NZ SPCA were recently withdrawn from the Palmerston North High Court.

Pawnote: Lisa Cole completed Tuesday's meeting sitting on 868 winners, having trained eight of the nine winners on the card when the meeting was abandoned owing to lure driving issues in the tenth.

The race, where Jilliby Lista was first across the line for Cole, was abandoned, when it appeared she got close to the lure on the bend.

The meeting was then called off with the explanation provided by the Trackside TV presenter "being owing to no qualified lure driver being on-course."

Commentator Andy McCook, who called the Palmerston North hosted meeting remotely from the Christchurch Trackside studio received no official explanation, however he assumed the cancellation was owing to the race ten incident. 

McCook was calling his first meeting since the COVID-19 lockdown, standing in for regular commentator Mark Rosanowski, who is on leave this week.

He will also call Wednesday's 15-race and Friday's 12-race Hatrick cards from the Christchurch studios.