MARK Gatt continued his remarkable "love affair" with Wentworth Park on Saturday night, with the Thirlmere trainer's dogs Wyndra All Heart and Ritza Ringer winning in the fastest times of the night.
Wyndra All Heart, raced by GBOTA deputy chair of directors Brian Barton, led throughout to win the top grade 520m event in 29.58 while Ritza Ringer also jumped in front and wasn't headed, stopping the clock in a fifth grade in 29.60.
"Nobody will miss Wentworth Park more than me when it closes,'' Gatt said recently.
Wyndra All Heart has not raced anywhere except WP, so his eight wins have been there, while Ritza Ringer's eight successes have also been totally achieved at headquarters.
"Ritza Ringer just loves the red,'' Gatt said after that youngster's win on Saturday, the dog's fifth in six appearances from box one.
"Unfortunately though, Ritza Ringer is just a few days too old to be eligible to contest the heats of the $100,000 to the winner Vic Peters Classic later this month.
"The Vic Peters is for dogs whelped on or after March 1, 2024, and Ritza Ringer was born on February 25 of that year.''
No wonder Gatt reckons he will miss WP when it closes, as his grand old stager Sammy Ethan has won 25 of his 91 races at the track.
Gatt shared training honours on Saturday with David Smith who won with Super Sassy and Glitzy Ethics and with Neil Staines, who scored with Bandit Blaze and Bandit Lynne.
Super Sassy, a daughter of Smith's WP 720m record holder Super Estrella, flashed home to run down tearaway leading Rise Up Nismo in 29.97, while Glitzy Ethics produced one of the best runs of 2026 to win in 29.94.
Glitzy Ethics was pushed back to a distinct last at the first turn, and on the back straight was still a distant sixth, between 12 and 15 lengths behind the pacemaker.
After being fourth on the home turn, Glitzy Ethics "sprouted wings" in the straight to win by two lengths.
Yass trainer Neil Staines said this week his current team is the best he has prepared in over three decades and he enojoyed another successful night on Saturday.
Bandit Blaze led throughout in 30.02 while Bandit Lynn also led all the way, clocking 29.68, while Staines also collected third place prizemoney with Royal Bandit in Ritza Ringer's race.
Zipping Smee was set to be sold until he scored an upset half head win over odds-on favourite Little Vesper in a 520m fifth grade on Saturday.
Zipping Smee, trained by Mick Hardman for Marty and Fiona Hallinan, led throughout after blocking Little Vesper for a run on the home bend.
After the race Mick Hardman said: "Zipping Smee tends to move off the rails on the home turn and I'm glad he did tonight, because when that happened the second dog, Little Vesper, ran into the back of him.
"We had an offer from a buyer in South Australia wanting to purchase Zipping Smee this week but after this win tonight we might be keeping him.
"Zipping Smee is not world beater but is a good honest dog with early pace.''
