Fontezza has taken out the crown at the annual Golden Muzzle race in Lithgow on Saturday, December 15.
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The greyhound is trained by Lidsdale trainer John Chapman who had four wins over the weekend.
Mr Chapman said that Fontezza was bred in Eglington from a pretty handy litter.
“This dog is very promising, having only four starts to date and having won all of them,” he said.
Kicking off four meetings ago in heats of maiden series, Fontezza ran his best time to date.
“He went so well that I thought I would give him a crack at the Golden Muzzle, he won his heat and went 30.01 and then went on to win the final in 29.57,” he said.
According to Mr Chapman Fontezza is a very promising dog owned by the Yabius Syndicate made of local people from Lithgow, Young and Bathurst who work in the mines and trades.
“He is probably the most promising sprinter we have in the kennels who will go and see better things,” he said.
Mr Chapman said that he feels that Fontezza isn’t at his fullest potential yet due to being under done.
“He went extremely well in the maidens but hasn’t had a lot of experience before I decided to put him in the Golden Muzzle, but as inexperienced as he is, he is looking very good,” he said.
“We put in a couple runs too early but we were shocked by how well he did.”
Mr Chapman’s other two dogs that won races in the Wang Royal Hotel Maiden and the Commercial Hotel Motel Maiden were Gary’s Gift and Titled Towers.
“I kicked them off at Lithgow a couple of weeks ago and they probably would’ve won before Saturday but we didn’t have much luck in the couple of starts,” he said.
With both dogs having their first starts at Lithgow in November 2018 and the two year old ran close to the records in the final of the maiden.
“Tilted Towers is also a very promising dog,” he said.
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Tilted Towers owned by Cognac And Cigars Syndicate came third in his first start and could’ve won the race but got into a bit of strife according to Mr Chapman.
On the Saturday Tilted Towers won the final with a time of 16.67.
Gary’s Gift came to Mr Chapman a little bit older as a second stringer but managed to win his final in 24.79.
“He is heading in the right direction and I am very happy with him,” he said.
One of Mr Chapmans bitches Miss Elsie has had four starts and four wins on the Lithgow track at the distance of 414 metres.
“She has been plagued with injury so she did quite well winning her ninth race,” he said.
Miss Elsie started three years ago in the maiden races and has run so many different tracks.
On the Saturday, Miss Elsie won her final in 24.53 with second place coming in at 24.73.
Mr Chapman had seven starters in the finals on Saturday and had four first place finishes, one third place finish, one forth place and one eighth place finish.
Mr Chapman who is a third generation greyhound trainer, trains 12 dogs at his home in Lidsdale in running yards that he has set up himself.
“They are just gorgeous animals and I love what I do,” he said.
Having been in Lidsdale for 10 years Mr Chapman said he has had good success in this space.
“My son joins me and helps with the dogs and just copies what I do, its a great bonding experience,” he said.
Mr Chapman would like to thank all of his supporters, the syndicates and his family.
“Especially my father who helps out and puts in a lot of hard work and time into this business,” he said.
“I also need to thank the hard working Lithgow Greyhound Associate members who put the race on and the sponsors such as the [Lithgow and District] Workmen’s Club who have continued to support us during such a hard time.”
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