Sandown’s greatest all-distance greyhound


When True Detective won his RSN Sandown Cup heat he joined a select group of greyhounds to have won over all three distances at Sandown Park.

Since the 595m trip was introduced on 8 April 2010 and up to and including 28 May 2020, there has been 5489 greyhounds win the 12,208 races conducted at Sandown Park (including 10 dead heats).

Of them, 91 have won over all three distances, with True Detective becoming the 13th to break 29 seconds for the 515m trip, 34 seconds for the 595m and 42 seconds for 715m. It is an elite group of greyhounds – all but one of the 13 have competed at group level at Sandown Park.
Just four of those greyhounds have contested a group race over all three distances at the circuit – Dundee Osprey, Fanta Bale, Irma Bale and Xylia Allen.

However Xylia Allen is the only greyhound to win a feature final over each – the Shootout and Sapphire Crown over 515m, the McKenna Memorial over 595m, and the Victorian National Distance final over 715m.

Not only was she a winner of top grade races over all distances, she won them in good time. The 29.069 she ran when winning the Shootout remains the race record, is the 15th fastest ever, and is the second fastest time recorded by a female greyhound behind Dyna Patty’s 28.999. She has the eighth fastest time recorded over 595m (33.792) and ran 41.697 over 715m, a time fast enough to have won all but three RSN Sandown Cups and one Bold Trease (the race record for both is 41.57).

Her cumulative best time over each distance of 104.558 seconds is 0.202 faster than the next fastest on the list (Dyna Chancer) and a massive 0.485 faster than Fanta Bale.

(side note – while Tornado Tears hasn’t won over 515m, if you include his 29.264 exhibition trial over the distance in August 2018 and his best times over the 595m – 33.668, and 715m – 41.204, his cumulative time is 104.136. 0.422 seconds – seven lengths! – faster than Xylia Allen!)

Her overall record at Sandown Park was exceptional, winning 12 of her 22 starts and missing a place just five times, with five of those wins coming over 515m, four over 595m and three over 715m.

Xylia Allen retired in October 2014 with 40 wins from her 83 career starts and $743,730 in prize money – a record at the time. In all, she won on 12 tracks and over 20 different distances and set eight track records between 515m and 720m, as winning from each box more than once.

A winner of the Australian, Victorian and Sandown Greyhound of the Year, Xylia Allen was in inducted into the Australian Hall Of Fame in 2019 and rightly takes her place among the greats of the sport.

Greyhounds to have broken 30/34/42 in wins over all distances at Sandown Park
GreyhoundCumulative time
XYLIA ALLEN104.558
DYNA CHANCER104.760
DUNDEE OSPREY104.890
HERE'S TEARS104.922
BENALI104.940
FANTA BALE105.043
BLUE SHADOWS105.052
POLIJUICE POTION105.084
BOBBY BOUCHEAU105.150
IRMA BALE105.220
FLYING TWIST105.392
APEX WITHIN105.524
TRUE DETECTIVE105.594
*Cumulative time combines each greyhound's best winning time over each distance
Xylia Allen wins the 2013 Shootout in race record time
Mick Floyd
About Mick Floyd - Mick is the Racing and Media Manager at Sandown Park and has 15 years of experience in the sport. He has a finely tuned talent for finding three legs of a quaddie. You can follow his ramblings on Twitter - @mickfloyd
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