Jason Mackay's Kong favourite for Spring Cup at Maitland

The son of Mogambo and Fantasy Royale clocked 24.96 seconds for the 450 metres to be the fastest of four heat winners.

He beat the Cheryl Betts-trained Cosmic Feature (25.42s) by six and a half lengths.

Kong is raced by the Tiger Seven syndicate and has been in sensational form since his 25.05s performance trial at Maitland on August 11.

He backed that up on August 25 with a 24.87s effort to win his maiden by nine and three quarter lengths and last Thursday he franked that form with his win in the heats of the Spring Cup.

Kong tips the scales at just more than 38 kilograms and while he isn’t the quickest of beginners his middle section and run-home times are sensational.

Kong started the $1.60 favourite on the tote and some punters cheered when they managed to get as much as $2 on fixed odds on Thursday afternoon.

Cessnock trainer John Crossley takes his spot in the Spring Cup final with Maitland specialist Gadooga.

Gadooga, a winner of five races from 18 starts at the track, won the first heat in 25.27s by a head from the Michael Mabbott-trained Be Da Boss.

Ninja Thommo (25.51s) won the second heat for trainer Barry Evans by two lengths from the Phillip Ross-trained Splitz (25.65s).

The Ron Marsden-trained Hardaway Highway on the fourth heat in 25.29s from the the Cheryl Murray-trained Blabba Mouth (25.66s).

Good luck to all the runners in this year’s Spring Cup final.

Thursday was a good day at the races for Moonbi trainer Barry Evans with a treble that also included the feature race on the program.

Gravitas kicked off proceedings with a good win in race two, the PPK Mining Equipment Maiden over 400m.

Then Ninja Thommo won race five, a heat of the Spring Cup, to earn a spot in this Thursday’s final.

Awesome Signs put the icing on the cake for Evans when he pinged the lids from box five and led most of the way in the Maitland Supporters Club Father’s Day Gift final over 400m.

The son of El Grand Senor and Iza Woman has missed a place only six times in 25 starts and all of his 10 wins have been at Maitland.

The Mark Bell-trained Too Good Thommo is one for punters to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.

The son of Black Magic Opal and Classy Love was impressive in his 400m performance trial at Maitland on Thursday afternoon with a 22.41s effort.

The NSW government has appointed experienced corporate advisor John Gibbons as Administrator of Greyhound Racing NSW to manage the corporate transition of greyhound racing’s governing body and affected clubs.            

Mr Gibbons, who has more than 40 years’ experience in corporate recovery and restructuring, has the necessary skills to undertake what will be a complex task.