RICHMOND Race Club is set to host the Phil Davis Memorial Race heats this weekend. On Saturday, the qualifying heats for the $10,000 race will be hosted at the club, with the race set for the following Saturday. Richmond Race Club general manager said the race was named after the deceased Phil Davis, who was a well liked member of the club. ‘‘Phil provided the club with great service and was always only to willing to pass on his help and expertise to greyhound trainers,’’ he said. ‘‘Phil Davis memorial is a time honoured race series recognising the achievements and dedication to the Richmond Race Club and Greyhound industry for over 40 years.’’ Mr Billett said he was expecting a strong field of entries for the memorial race. ‘‘It is one of our main feature races, specifically targeted to up and coming greyhounds,’’ he said.
HAWKESBURY wake boarder Nic Rapa continues to impress in America. Rapa, who just turned 18, has been living in America while he competes on various wake boarding tours. Rapa won the Malibu Rider Experience series, and leads the other Nautique Wake Series. The final ride of the Nautique Wake Series is in August, and Rapa said his fingers were crossed that he had a good performance to secure another win for himself.
CRICKET NSW will host a gala day at Bensons Lane Sporting Complex tomorrow (July 30) for young cricketers. About 300 year three and four students from nine Hawkesbury schools will be at the day where each participant will bat, bowl, field and wicket keep. Cricket NSW North West Sydney development manager Nicholas Toscan said the gala day was designed to make the young players excited for cricket ahead of registrations for the upcoming season. Mr Toscan said the Sydney Thunder bus would be there, which would provide entertainment for the students.
HAWKESBURY enduro rider Jess Gardiner’s broken wrist has healed enough to get back on the bike. Gardiner withdrew from the third race of the World Enduro Championships earlier this month, because of the wrist, but barring further injuries, she should contest the final round in October. Gardiner said she went for a ride in France last week, and enjoyed it, although noted her wrist was still healing. Gardiner slipped to fourth overall in the world championships after withdrawing from the third race, and is six points behind fellow Australian rider Jemma Wilson. Gardiner’s superb first two rounds, where she recorded 60 points, means come October she will have a genuine chance at taking third spot, and possibly second place with some luck.
HAWKESBURY trained race horse Miniature won an 84 handicap at Canterbury Park at the weekend. The fouryear-old mare won by 0.2 of a length in the benchmark 84 over 1100-metres. The mare is trained by John O’Shea, who also had another Hawkesbury trained horse run second on the day. Three-year-old colt Grunderzeit was second in a benchmark 75 over 1250-metres. Hawkesbury trainer Garry Frazer’s Way We Go started that race as a $3.70 favourite, but ended up running fifth.
KURRAJONG-BILPIN Little Athletics members Renee and Aiden Hardy competed at the NSW Long Road Walking Championships at Narellan on Sunday. The brother and sister pair also competed alongside fellow member Janaya Lee, who was seventh in the under-16 girls five kilometre walk with a time of 36 minutes and five seconds. Younger Hardy sibling, Aiden, finished third in the under-12 boys two kilometre walk with a time of 14 minutes 17 seconds. Sister Renee competed in a higher age group and finished in fourth place in the under-16 girls five kilometre walk with a time of 30 minutes and 28 seconds.
HUXLEY had an upset win over Colo in Hawkesbury City Netball Association’s A1 Grade on Saturday. Colo had lost just one game this season before Saturday, when it went down to fourth placed Huxley 43-38. Poppets bounced back from last week’s loss to beat Macquarie 53-26. Green Hills continued Pitt Town-Oakville’s misery by handing it yet another defeat, winning 49-27. This Saturday, Colo has a bye, while second placed Poppets take on seventh and last Pitt Town-Oakville. Third placed Londonderry, who had a bye at the weekend, will play fifth placed Macquarie. The final game will be between Huxley and sixth placed Green Hills.
HAWKESBURY Valley can consider itself lucky it only copped a 62 point defeat at the hands of UWSH when the two teams clashed recently. In division three of NSW Suburban Rugby Union’s first grade competition, UWSH embarrassed King’s Old Boys 122-0. Hawkesbury Valley went down to St Ives 24-12 in the other round 12 match of interest. On Saturday, Hawkesbury Valley will host Waverley, while UWSH will play the match of the round, taking on Redfield Old Boys, which is in second place, behind UWSH.
IT WAS a rough day for the Nor-West Jets on Saturday, as the club went down heavily in both grades to the University of Technology Sydney Bats. It was the round 15 clash between the two clubs in the AFL Sydney competition. In the third division, the Bats prevailed 15-5-95 to 7-4-46, while in the fifth division, the Jets were flogged 18-16-124 to 3-7-25. The losses mean the Jets remain in fifth place on the third division ladder, while the fifth division team is in seventh place. On Saturday it is the wet weather round with the division three team hosting the Western Suburbs Magpies at Bensons Lane.
INDOOR netballers Alannah Taufa and Rhomee Gaffey both won gold medals at the indoor netball junior world series. The series was in Perth from July 12 to 18 and was played between Australia, which the pair represented, along with New Zealand and South Africa. Gaffey was in the under-15 squad which went undefeated in both indoor netball and fast ball, a New Zealand variant of the game. She won a gold medal for each performance, while Taufa won a silver with the under-14s team in fastball, and a gold medal in the seven-a-side discipline.