Young greyhound trainers Gary Kimber and Vicki Wilder received a late Christmas present when kennel star Corleone King won the Young Cup on Boxing Day.
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Known at home as George, Corleone King overcame a tough box five draw to salute at $3 odds in the $3,000-to-the-winner series final.
It was the four-and-a-half year old’s 74th career start and win number 18.
The victory was a big thrill for Gary and Vicki, marking their first ever Young Cup win.
“We’ve never won the race, I’ve never had a good enough dog,” Gary said.
“He’s worked his way up the past few months after coming second in the Goulburn Cup. From then on he’s been pretty consistent and shown good form.
“That’s really impressed me because he’s four-and-a-half years old which for a greyhound is near retirement age. He’s never been in this form all his life.”
Taking an early lead from the jump, Corleone King raced to a comfortable six-and-a-quarter length victory over Dale Hall’s trained Sienna Grand and Smart Desire for Terry O’Keefe.
He stopped the clock in a speedy 30.32s over the 520m.
Corleone King is proving to be one of Gary’s best.
“I was happy to watch him chasing daylight. Vic put him in and ran really well. I wasn’t sure if he’d last that distance with his age, so he did really well,” Gary said.
It was one Corleone King’s biggest wins of his career which does include a stint in Victoria while Gary recovered from a serious motorcycle accident about two years ago.
Vicki has taken on more responsibility with the handling of the dogs, and Gary believes the results are improving.
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“Whenever she puts them in the boxes they seem to go well,” he said.
“I spent about eight months at Westmead. You move on from these things, my dogs keep me going.
“I bought my first dog when I was 21 and have been in the game on and off since then. It’s still got my interest. When I was recovering it was what I was thinking about, I just wanted to watch my dogs race.”
Corleone King also has the 347m track record at Young with a time of 19.48s which he set in August last year.
Cootamundra trainer Terry O’Keefe took out the night’s other feature with Sock’s Desire.