Gwabegar greyhound racing trainer Eric Butler had a successful night on Sunday when the Gunnedah Greyhound Racing Club hosted a 10-race TAB meeting.

Butler had five dogs in action at that meeting and one of those was a winner while another two raced to top three finishes.

In race three Butler’s Sunshine Ruby finished third, and in race nine Sunshine Shadow placed second.

But the highlight of the night was the Butler-trained winner which was the in form Sunshine Runner.

Sunshine Runner jumped from box eight in the 340-metre race four and within a matter of seconds had stormed out to a comfortable lead. She held onto her lead to win the race by a-length-and-a-quarter to earn the $1500 top prize.

The win was the two-year-old black bitch’s fifth in 15 starts for Gwabegar trainer Butler. It was her fourth win in seven starts, and all other finishes during that time were second place. Out of her 15 races Sunshine Runner has either won or placed second 11 times.

There were two other Narrabri Shire-trained dogs in action in the fourth race of the night in Gunnedah.

One of those was the Butler-trained Sunshine Rose which finished fourth after jumping from box four.

The other was Buck Wind, trained by Wee Waa’s Colin Anderson.Buck Wind jumped from box six and was running last early in the race, however the three-year-old stormed past five other dogs to place third, just two-and-a-half lengths behind Sunshine Runner.

Earlier in the evening the Anderson-trained Black Max Opal was the first Narrabri Shire-trained dog to race.Black Max Opal jumped from box one in the 340-metre maiden and placed second, less than a length behind the Kevin Sills-trained winner Icy Spring (box four).

In the 340-metre race three Butler’s Sunshine Ruby jumped from box four and raced to a third-placed finish, coming home four-and-a-quarter lengths behind the race’s winner Liz’s Sniper which jumped from box seven for William Marmara.

Also in action in that race was Elite Force which jumped from box one for Wee Waa’s Timothy Anderson and finished last in a field of eight.

In the fifth race of the evening Colin Anderson oversaw his third placing when Chance Amelia jumped from box eight and finished the 431-metre run in second place. She finished that race about six lengths behind the Patrick Marley-trained winner Gunnadoo Roller (box two).

In the seventh race of the evening, which was a 340-metre event, there were just four dogs in action. One of those was the Robert Hobson-trained Talmage which jumped from box five and was running second early but finished the race in fourth, four lengths behind the Jamie Bush-trained winner Come On George (box eight).

There were two Butler-trained greyhounds in race nine – Sunshine Shadow which jumped from box three and Sienna Road which ran from box six.
Sunshine Shadow placed second in that 340-metre race, eight-and-a-half lengths behind the Jamie Bush-trained winner Disco Chook (box seven), while Sienna Road finished fifth.

There were no Narrabri Shire-trained dogs in the 10th and final race of the night.

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