WITH preparation timed to perfection, Drury trainers Ben and Lisa Craik produced Rivette Reason at the Manukau Stadium to score a convincing victory in last week's Commercial Plumbing Duke Of Edinburgh Silver Collar.
The only concern the father and daughter training combination had before the race was their pint-size 24kg bitch's ability to secure a clear passage from the eight trap.
"She doesn't like other dogs around her, so when they leave the traps she'll need to lead, cross down on the rail and sit in behind the pace," said Ben beforehand.
Rivette Reason followed the script to perfection.
She bounded out, held herself wide in the initial rush to allow the expected pacemaker Superstitions to cut through and take up the front running duties.
For the next 700m little Rivette Reason taunted not only the leader but also her opposition.
Prince Toshack, who had been backed into warm favoritism after a track record run in his heat, appeared to be full of running when the field reached half way.
He was loping along in third and was poised to gather in the two in front. But the only gathering in came from Rivette Reason.
On running the final turn she hooked out of the trail, cruised around Superstition and set sail. She hit the line with a length and a quarter to spare, stopping the clock in 46.53 seconds. Prince Toshack had a similar margin over a brave but tiring Superstitious, while Shining Comet finished stoutly to bead the rest.
"I was really proud of her tonight," said Ben.
"I knew we had the fittest dog in the field and that should would keep on running all day if she was required to."
"That race was for her brother Rasmah Reason, he was a really sad loss," he said, referring to the death of her litter brother."
Long time kennel client John Roberts delivered and emotional acceptance speech on behalf of the Closely Related syndicate.
"Most of all I wish to dedicate this victory to Rasmah Reason," he said.
"She did us all proud. The training performance from the Craiks was brilliant. When we lost Rasmah Reason earlier this season, Ben turned to me and said, 'I'll win the Silver Collar with her for you now'.
"He, Lisa and Barbara did exactly that," he said on behalf of the other syndicate members.
"The only dog I considered a danger to us won the race," said Prince Toshack's owner, Australian Robbie Watts.
"She ran the fastest last split in the heads and I knew she was going to be very hard to beat. An Aussie dog needs to be over here longer to acclimatise. He did everything right and I actually thought that he (Prince Toshack) was going to win 300 metres out," he added.
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