Superstar Inspires Graham's July Maiden Trio

THEY call him “The Wiangaree Wizard” such is Col Graham's ability as a greyhound trainer, but Col was adamant a few years ago he was not breeding another litter of pups.

On Sunday night at Grafton, Col produced a litter of Hooked On Scotch and Distant Star pups, three of them in fact, and all three have made the $20,000-to-the-winner July Maiden Final (450m)  to be staged on July 12.

It is a time-honoured event that has seen some great greyhounds contest the series.

Two of Col's litter, King Of Aces and Loving Smile, won their heats while Distant Flash finished second to a flying Ezra Man.

And by Monday morning Col was beaming after Distant Flash drew the rails, Loving Smile the two and King Of Aces the seven.

“All three of them are well boxed,” said Col.

Heidi Mcgraw opened the heats of the Grafton Maiden Classic last night and also clocked the fastest time of 25.32!
The Final will feature along with the Sprinters and Stayers Cups, Wednesday July 12.

Grafton Results: https://t.co/pRd1qrJWP0#thedogs #greyhoundracing #grafton pic.twitter.com/waXMhvs8km

— The Dogs (@Thedogs_com_au) July 3, 2023

“King Of Aces is nicely placed out wide because he is not that quick early but is strong at the finish and the wide draw might let him work into the race.

“But Loving Smile tends to roll out a bit from the start and this should give Distant Flash a very good run early.

“I really liked his run because he chased so hard to get Ezra Man and only went down a length and three-quarters.”

Quickest of the four Maiden heat winners was Heidi McGraw which ran 25.32 in the opening heat.

Col Graham bought litter sisters Distant Star and Inspire Us (Moriera-Someday Lady) from Victoria as young bitches just starting their careers.

Distant Star won 17 and Inspire Us 23.

“We had to breed with both of them after that,” said Col.

“Distant Star had five but we lost one dog when bitten by a snake. She has since had five pups by Aston Rupee who are five months old.

“Inspire Us has an eight-months litter by Flying Ricciardo.”

The dams are sisters to Waging War which was a group class galloper in Victoria winning 13 races and $113,000.

It is the famed National Lass direct damline and the mating to Hooked On Scotch by which Col Graham was inspired.

Hooked On Scotch's superstars, Postman Pat and Rejuvenate, are both from the same National Lass damline.

Col said Loving Smile had surprised him with her heat win.

“But, it was a very good run because she got a bad check on the home turn and still won,” he said.

“I like King Of Aces. His final sections are very good. In fact, the final sections he has been running in the lead-up to the heats last night were better than anything ran on the night of The Thunderbolt.”

While Col believes fastest heat winner Heidi McGraw will be hard to toss, he has strong respect for Ezra Man from the Brett May kennel.

“It went good to win the heat,” he said.