COOLAVANNY AUNTY landed her third GBGB Category One success when again leading home kennelmate Coolavanny Bani for an Angela Harrison-trained one-two in the Arena Racing Company Grand Prix Final at Sunderland.

Already winner of the Empress Stakes at Towcester last year and Essex Vase at Romford this term, as well as finishing second in both the 2021 Puppy Classic at Nottingham and George Ing St Leger at Yarmouth this year, Coolavanny Aunty had broken the track record at the Wearside track in the semis and now sealed the deal in the final.

However, it was hardly plain sailing for this outstanding stayer who was made to work hard for the victory by Coolavanny Bani.

The latter went to traps the defending champion and cut out the early running after a fast start. Setting a furious gallop up front, it was not until the run for home when Coolavanny Aunty grabbed the near senior, winning by half a length from Coolavanny Bani with Kevin Boon’s youngster Farneys Chloe a superb close-up third.

The winning time for the brilliant September 2019 daughter of Droopys Sydney and Yahoo Katie was 39.07sec (+20).

Andrew Dalby provided the commentary on the big race for Sky Sports Racing and always anticipated the final would turn into a cracking contest – and so it proved.

He said: “The moment Coolavanny Bani sprang from the traps, I was sure we had a fantastic race about to unfold. She went quicker than Little Seven’s split before Coolavanny Aunty’s semi-final track record victory – Bani’s sectional was 15.58sec compared to Little Seven’s 15.64sec the previous week.

“However another record always looked unlikely because, whereas Aunty could glide past the wide-running Little Seven on her way to the record books, now she faced negotiating her way past as tricky a greyhound to overtake as I’ve ever seen in Coolavanny Bani.

“It had completely baffled last year’s Grand Prix final favourite Blue Tick George when Bani held on after another brilliant start and now it was Aunty’s puzzle to solve, with the extra complication that Kevin Boon’s Farneys Chloe was close enough to profit if the front pair tangled.

“Chloe’s switch towards the inside at the fifth bend helped to persuade Aunty to prefer a winning outside route to grab a half-length victory and round off a historic rivalry because Bani’s set for retirement after they compete in separate Monmore races for the (Arc/Entain) Trainers’ Judgement Night later this week.

“Not only have all three of Aunty’s Cat One triumphs come with Bani as the runner-up, but they’ve also been on three different tracks over three noticeably different distances – firstly Towcester’s 500m last September in the Empress Stakes, then Romford’s 575 metres in January in the Essex Vase, and now Sunderland’s 640 metres in the Grand Prix.

“It really is an amazing rivalry in many ways, but a friendly one and quite staggering one given they’re both trained by Angela (Harrison)!

“A special mention also for Farneys Chloe and her trainer Kevin Boon. Chloe’s in her final month as a puppy but clearly has plenty of stamina already so look out for her in the rest of this year’s major six-bend events. Kevin made frequent but lengthy trips from Norfolk to support the Grand Prix at Sunderland so fully deserved his undercard winner when Farneys Pet took a maiden 450m contest.

Result: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=384368&raceId=834390