LUCEY Taro marked her return from injury in the best possible way at Dawson Park on Thursday, cruising to victory in the first heat of the NJK Construction 0-2 Win Series (318m).
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It was the fifth career start for the black bitch and the first since overcoming a knock, and trainer Jeanette Foley was delighted Lucey Taro repaid her faith.
"She's very good at the boxes, always jumps well and we were a little confident she'd do alright today, especially in the middle on the straight so it was good," she said, before talking about her dog's return from injury.
"We nominated her a couple of times and she only got back as a reserve but her reserve trial was very good and we thought we'd put her in these heats and try to make it easy for her over the shorter distance so we're very happy with her."
Starting from box five, Lucey Taro ($4.30) was one of the two dogs favoured by punters, with the other being the favourite Susie Willow ($2.20), trained by Paul Braddon.
Much like her sister Betty Sue Taro, who won at the track a week ago, Lucey Taro jumped well from the box and immediately got to the lead.
Susie Willow threatened the lead, pushing the leader for much of the journey as the front pair ran clear of the rest of the field, but Lucey Taro kicked down the straight and went on to win by three-quarters of a length.
There was a clear gap to third, as Diamond's Secret ($8.60) ran home a further seven-and-half-lengths back.
Lucey Taro's impressive time of 18.18 seconds was clearly quicker than the winner of the second heat, Chelsea Keeping.
Chelsea Keeping, currently up for sale at the Charmaine Roberts kennel, got out of the boxes well and avoided some early trouble to win by four-and-three-quarter lengths in a time of 18.66 seconds.
"She led last week in the 400 so we thought we'd just drop her back to the 300 and hoped she could jump to the front and that's what she did and she won," Roberts said.
"She's only run of the mill but a win's a win.?She is a good little 300 bitch."
Chelsea Keeping began the event as a $3.10 favourite but Ron Steel's Zachary Cargo was also favoured and began at $3.50.
But some early contact hampered the progress of Zachary Cargo and allowed Chelsea Keeping to kick away and win comfortably, with Steel's dog second and Shannon Kirby's Power Check ($8.80) in third.
The third heat was a huge upset with $22.30 chance Tanayah Baz winning for trainer John Collison in a time of 18.55 while the fourth and final heat saw the Mark Wicks-trained Diamond Diva claim victory.
The final will be run next Monday night.
