The Grafton Greyhound Racing Club hosted a 12-race program on February 18, with the running of The Clarence heats over 660m taking centre stage on the night as trainers looked to qualify their talented stayers for the $25000 final this weekend.

Heat 1 saw six dogs and bitches head to the boxes with Queensland visitor and notable long-distance performer Scintillate, prepared by Tom Tzouvelis, well supported in the market.

Jumping from box 8, Scintillate found a position inside the top three as the small field negotiated the first corner before letting down with a powerful surge in the back straight to claim early leader Mean Girl.

Turning for home, the speedy bitch put three lengths on her competitors and charged to the line to win by close to four lengths, stopping the clock at 38.20 seconds.

70/1 outsider Jimary Everest finished second while Run West nabbed third ahead of Mean Girl.

Another six dogs and bitches lined up for Heat 2 with Off The Richter starting the short priced favourite off the back of solid performances at Gosford earlier this year, which suggest the two-year-old son of Barcia Bale could be a middle distance star of the future.

Trained on the Central Coast by Gary Stewart, Off The Richter began only fairly from box 1 and sat behind the fast-paced Sanisha throughout the early stages of the race before striking the front with 450m remaining.

While Sanisha fought back gamely inside the concluding stages, Off The Richter held on to win by a length in a time of 38.01 seconds, narrowly missing out on claiming Shipwreck’s track record by the barest of margins.

“We’ll have a crack at it next week,” Stewart said, hinting at the clock following the race.

“It was a very impressive win.”

The Clarence final will be held during the Grafton Greyhound Racing Club’s next race meeting on February 25.

Scintillate, Jimary Everest, Run West, Mean Girl, Off The Richter, Sanisha, Brindle Blaster, and Me And You will all head to the boxes in an attempt to become the inaugural winner of the event.

Glenreagh Bullet and Adelmo Bale have been announced as first and second reserves respectively.

The first four placegetters in The Clarence will also receive automatic qualification for the Ladbrokes Country Classic semi-finals to be run in Dubbo on March 9.

Full coverage of The Clarence will feature in the February 28 edition of the Clarence Valley Independent.

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 21 February 2024.