Albion Park track record holder Mr. Babicci will be aiming for his tenth win in 13 starts when he lines up in race six at Lismore on Tuesday night.
Trained in the Northern Rivers by Franck Hancock, Mr Babicci will jump from box eight in the 420m non-graded event.
Mr. Babicci has shown a liking for the Lismore track and has posted an impressive best time of 23.81, which is only seven hundredths of a second off the track record set by Group 1 winner Paw Licking.
"His time around Lismore is impressive. To only be a couple of hundredths of the time set by Paw Licking who is arguably one of the best dogs in Australia right now is big effort," he said.
Hancock is quietly confident that his greyhound will add another win to his record on Tuesday.
"You can never be over-confident, but with a clear run he should be a good shot at adding to his record," he said.
"It takes him about 15 metres at the start to get wound up and suss everything out. Once he does that, he can get into his rhythm and run a really strong back half.
"He's got box eight which will be good for him. Although box draws don't seem to worry him, I do prefer him drawn out a little wider."
Mr. Babicci's set the track record at Albion Park in February this year when he ran a time of 22.30.
Hancock admits that Mr. Babicci has defied all his early expectations of the greyhound.
"When we started out, I thought Mr. Babicci was the slowest in litter and now he's the only one to have broken track records out of the litter," he said.
The choice to race Mr Babicci over 400 metres was a decision made out of convenience by Hancock, but he admits that he is glad that he did.
"I originally put him over the 450m because I also had Battistuzzi and their sister Dulcie Dee who are both stronger over the 500m than he was and I didn't want them going up against each other in races. It probably would have been a bit too full-on for me to handle if they did," he said.
"Mr. Babicci is capable of running over 520m and I'm sure if I put him up to that distance he would go well. But why tinker with something that is working.”
Hancock also explained how Mr. Babicci got his name.
“Mr. Babicci is my wife's dentist name. The grandfather sire of the litter was named Primo Uno so all the dogs in the litter have an Italian flavour to their name and we thought Babicci worked in well with that,” he said.
Meanwhile, another of Hancock’s kennel stars – Brisbane Cup placegetter Battistuzzi – will be aimed for the Queensland Derby on April 24.
