Lightning Frank isn’t just a pretty face, although no one can knock him for his jet-black coat and Black Magic Opal’s white stripe up his nose.
As racing enthusiasts, we have watched Lightning Frank grow from the GRV Vic Bred Maiden Final he dominated in Bendigo in 2016 to group one victories and for his small-time breeder Andrea Gurry, watching Frank extend his resume has been life-changing.
“He is my biggest achievement after 20 years involvement in the sport,” Gurry explained.
“Even though there is no monetary reward for breeding a dog like Lightning Frank when you sell them, no one can take away the fact that you bred the dog. You sat there picking your brain about a sire and then achieved a success.”
Gurry believes that at the end of the day the breeders bonus was fantastic and they helped keep the wheels churning in the breeding barn, but success and a love for the dog is what breeders breed for.
Lightning Frank is out of Black Magic Opal and Kirabilli Abbie. Black Magic Opal has recently thrown Group Two Warrnambool Classic winner Bewildering and his talented litter brother Extreme Magic.
“At the time, there was a lot of unproven sires on the scene and I can’t tell you how many times I went over the list of sires and I kept coming back to Black Magic Opal,” Gurry said.
“I am a small-time breeder and I need a commercial element to my breeding because I need to be able to sell pups.”
Admitting that it is hard to see her beloved pups leave her hands, she was more than confident with the crew from Warrnambool, now more famously known as the Hashtag Syndicate, who purchased Lightning Frank.
And the connection didn’t stop there, based in Warrnambool the Hashtag syndicate called upon the skills of Gurry’s cousin and Group One winning trainer Dustin Drew to educate Lightning Frank.
After Lighting Frank was broken in there was no shortage of whispers about the talent he was displaying on the race track.
“Ricky Leonard from the Hashtag Syndicate has been keeping me in the loop with Franks happenings.”
“They just love Lightning Frank, and they were wrapped from day one with him.”
Lighting Frank wasn’t the only star to be discovered on Bendigo Cup night in 2016 outside the cup, Burn One Down claimed victory in the Winter Cup (680m) his first of many feature wins.
The Bendigo Cup and along with the GRV Vic Bred Maiden Series and Winter Cup are fast approaching.
On Friday Bendigo will host eight talent packed heats of the GRV Vic Bred Maiden Series, with the winners and second place getters securing their rug in the four semi-finals held on Saturday July 1 along-side the Winter Cup heats.
Nominations close for the Winter Cup heats on Tuesday June 21.
We can’t forget the Group Two $67,000 Bendigo Cup, nominations for the Cup close on Wednesday June 28 at 9am with the heats set to be run on Sunday July 2.
