Chaser to run for riches after Col Harris Gold Sovereign

By Josh Spasaro

Owner Steve Evans believes Goldstar Prada is ready to step up to 700 metres in the coming weeks, regardless of how she performs in the Col Harris Gold Sovereign Final at Q1 Lakeside on Saturday night.

The two-year-old is in fine form, saluting in four of her past five starts.

Showing her versatility, she won each of those races over different distances.

There was a convincing six-length victory over 600 metres at Q2 Parklands on September 8, but there were two courageous comeback wins in there, too.

The next was over 550 metres at Q1 Lakeside and Goldstar Prada seemingly looked no chance at the turn for home.

She flashed home and triumphed by a length-and-a-half.

The Federal Morgan and Goldstar Journey bitch was well back at the turn over 457 metres at Q1 Lakeside on September 2, but her finish that night was also top class, winning by one-and-a-half lengths.

The different ways Goldstar Prada has found a way to win has impressed the Churchable-based Evans.

“Her wins are very strong. She did take a while to come to it. She just looked a bit stuck for a while,” he said.

“But, she’s always been a bitch we thought would run a bit of ground. Now we’ve stepped her up over the longer distances, it seems to be where she wants to be.”

Evans said he aimed Goldstar Prada at the Col Harris Gold Sovereign Final this Saturday night.

“She won a good 450 metre race a few weeks back and she’s won at 600 metres. She’s won a bit of everything. She’s very versatile and we’re really looking forward to her getting up over the 700 metres in the next month or two,” he said.

“We’ll just play it week-by-week with her at the moment and see where that takes us.

“We’ve got no plans for her at the moment. This has been our plan, so we’ll get through this week and reassess where we go after that.

“I think on paper she looks really hard to beat.”

Evans owns Goldstar Prada’s dam, Goldstar Journey, and was happy to have Federal Morgan as the sire.

“Goldstar Journey was an exceptionally fast dog. One of the fastest dogs we’ve had but just didn’t want to do it on race day,” he said.

“Her progeny have been really good, Goldstar Ginny of course is really strong.

“This bitch is the next litter and she looks really good. We’ve had a really good run with the Federal Morgans.” 

The New Zealander, who has son Riley train his dogs, was also pleased Goldstar Prada drew box two for this Saturday’s $18,940 feature. 

“Real happy with her draw. The other heat winner (All Out Fire) has drawn inside her,” he said.

“Her start was a wee bit better last week (winning her heat in 36.73 seconds after coming fifth over 520 metres on September 18). We’re just hoping she can begin with the field and she looks a really strong staying type in the making.

“So we’re really happy with where she’s at.”

The Evans family moved to their Churchable property from New Zealand early this year and they have loved their time in South East Queensland.

“We’re having a really great trot at the moment. We’ve had a fantastic start over here,” he said.

“We’re here for good. We’ve had a really good start. We’re way above where we expected to be.

“We thought it would take us three or four months to get up and running, but we’ve been here six months now and the dogs all seem to be loving it.

“It’s a great facility we’ve got here and The Q is fantastic. I can’t speak more highly about how things have gone and how people have accepted us over here.”

Evans said he was set to fly back to New Zealand to sell the family property, adding Riley would be more than capable conditioning their greyhounds in the meantime.

“I’m about to fly back to New Zealand for a couple of weeks. We’ve got a property to sell over there,” he said.

“I’ll spend a bit of time between the New Zealand and Churchable properties.

“Riley runs things and we just feed off each other. We work well together. We’ve got a good family set-up.”