‘Queen' Qwara Makes Maturity Classic Her Own

QWARA Bale has cemented her position as Australia's premier female greyhound with a dashing display in Saturday night's KCR Transport Maturity Classic Final (525m) at The Meadows.

The daughter of Allen Deed downed an otherwise all-male field in the Group 1 showpiece to hand trainer Andrea Dailly a third Maturity Classic title following previous wins with Fernando Bale (2015) and Dyna Patty (2018).

Back in May, Qwara Bale raced away with the Group 1 Sapphire Crown at Sandown Park just three starts on from securing the Group 2 Warrnambool Cup where she also blitzed a field of all-male greyhounds.

Going into Saturday night's $100,000-to-the-winner decider, co-trainer George Dailly told the Greyhound Recorder that he was confident about Qwara Bale's prospects from a suitable box three draw.

And his star charge made full use of the box, coming out running to hold out the well supported Mr. Fix It in the drive to the first corner.

At the finish she prevailed by half-a-length from a gallant Fernando Mick to secure her second Group 1 victory in 29.93.

"If you reverse the boxes with Mr. Fix It it may have been a different story but she made her own luck by getting to the front," George Dailly said.

"Going into the race I said if she found the front she'd be very hard to run down as she's just so competitive. She got the start right; that's where it was going to be won or lost.

"In the run home I thought she had the race won."

Qwara Bale's Group 1 triumph continued the fantastic run Allen Deed is enjoying at stud.

Trained by the Daillys during his fabulous career, Allen Deed still holds The Meadows 525 metre track record at a remarkable 29.37.

"Seven years on and nothing can get near it," Dailly added. "It's a good reward for him to have thrown a bitch of this talent. But there's plenty of other good ones as well. He's a very underrated sire."

The second feature at The Meadows on Saturday night – the Group 3 Destini Lodge Fireball (725m) went the way of Hank The Hustler for trainer Jeff Britton.

The son of Group 1 winners Fernando Bale and Oakvale Destiny started a warm $2.60 favourite from box one and after stalking the early leaders powered home for an emphatic victory in 43.01.

Landing career win number 17, Hank The Hustler defeated Star Blazer – trained by Britton's partner Angela Langton – by 3 ½ lengths to secure his first Group race success.

Finishing third was Zipping Ticket another half-length away.

Away from the two Group events, Saturday night's card was highlighted by a star-studded free-for-all which went to Aston Rupee in crushing fashion.

The son of Kc And All ran down Koblenz in 29.75 with Shima Shine in third.