After a near-track record performance in the heats of the Group 3 Nowra Puppy Classic last week, trainer Phillip Goodsell is hoping his kennel-star Stilton Blue can repeat the run in this week's semi-final.
In his heat last week Stilton Blue ran an impressive 29.57, just four hundredths of a second off Ritza Hattie's record set in October of last year.
Goodsell was not surprised by the effort, knowing exactly what his young dog is capable of.
"It was just typical of what he can do when he leaves the boxes cleanly," he said.
"He's got a real high-speed turn of foot. He broke the first sectional record in his heat (4.26) and wasn't far off Ritza Hattie's run home record either."
The trainer credits Stilton Blue's love of the track as one of the reasons behind the dog's good form so far in the series.
"It's his home track and these sorts of races are a large reason why his owner Jason Bolwell wanted somebody down this way to train him and his littermates," he said.
"Jason wanted to make sure they were trained on the track and knew the track and I guess that has shown in his record at Nowra."
Goodsell is cautiously optimistic about his chances in the series but admits that for now at least, his attention is focused on the semi-final.
"I never really look more than one race ahead at a time. You've just got to hope that everything goes well and the race pans out like you plan," he said.
"I think box eight will suit him. As long as he takes off cleanly and straight like he usually does, it won't worry him."
After some solid runs in the heats last week, Goodsell is wary of his opposition in the semi-final.
"It looks like all the fast dogs from last week have ended up in Stilton Blue's heat," he said.
"Lucia Destiny (box one) is very quick out of the boxes, Highbury (box three) ran a very good second place to Stilton Blue last week and Solar Pak (box two) is a really good local dog.
"It's going to be a tough race.
"If he gets through today, there's quite a short turn around before the final on Saturday and it's going to be hard on the young dogs.
"So fingers crossed he gets through the series okay and if does, we will look at heading back up to Sydney after that to see how he goes there.
"We haven't really mapped anything further on than that. I will just take it a race at a time."
Stilton Blue is not Goodsell's only chance in the series, with the trainer lining up another greyhound from the same Where's Pedro-She's A Player litter.
Hollie Anne will jump from box one in the other semi-final of the afternoon and Goodsell hopes she will make it a double act in the final on Saturday.
"Hollie Anne is a really good bitch but is more a stayer than Stilton Blue. She tends to go better over the 600m. She's won twice at Nowra over the 630m," he said.
"She also has a fast turn-of-foot and can run all day but the one thing with her is, she wants to use the track. If she jumps from seven, she'll stay seven wide all the way.
"She's got box one today, so I'm hoping that will help her out and she can then gallop to the lead."
Goodsell believes that both dogs have a bright future ahead of them, but hopes that success is around the corner for one of them the Puppy Classic series.
"They are both really nice pups, but they're quite different so it's difficult to compare them. They're both capable of getting into the final though, so hopefully they can do it for Jason," he said.
"A lot of the credit for both the greyhounds needs to go to Jason the owner. He bred the pups and has put a lot of money and time into them, so it's good to see him getting the results and it looks like he real good potential in both of them but especially Stilton Blue."
