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Nothing 'Common' about this Young Guns win

11 January 2019

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By Isaac Murphy

Common Ground booked herself a ticket to Sydney when she won the Racing Queensland Young Guns in flawless fashion for burgeoning trainer Warren Nicholls at Albion Park on Thursday.

Her fourth-straight win (29.88sec) confirmed her status as Queensland’s premier greyhound under-30 months and was further confirmation of Nicholls' upward spiral in the sport.

“Tonight was the biggest moment of my training career so far,” Nicholls said.

“Having a live chance in a final I was a bundle of nerves but couldn’t be happier with how it panned out.”

With a tonne of early speed in the race Common Ground used her rails draw to full advantage, holding out her challenges to punch to the lead at the winning post.

“My heart was in my mouth early, it was a bit of déjà vu from last week with Fernando Blaster on our hammer,” Nicholls said.

“She really pinched it with her first sectional, 5.49 is flying but she needed it to hold out Painted Picture.”

Common Ground backed up her first sectional going 11.51 seconds down the back to open a gap on Terry Jordan’s Fernando Blaster who chased in vein.

Nicholls thanked Ray and Mary Burman for giving him brood bitch Titan Ash and was excited to continue the dam’s legacy.

Common Ground will now tackle Australia’s best youngsters in Sydney in the heats of the Futurity at Wentworth Park on January 27.

“It’ll be a big effort taking her down to the Futurity heats, it’s something we haven’t done before taking a greyhound interstate for a feature race, but she couldn’t be going any better,” Nicholls said.