Christine and Alan Proctor must surely have set a record at Nowra last Sunday when the first five greyhounds to cross the line in a 520m maiden race were from their kennels.
Tarawi Thunder scored from Black Bronco and Taipan’s Time, with their kennelmates Love To Rock and White Smoke in fourth and fifth spots.
While Australia’s biggest breeders like Paul Wheeler and trainers of huge teams such as Andrea Dailly have often provided trifecta results, I can’t recall one kennel finishing one, two, three, four and five.
Even more remarkable is that the Proctors’ five Nowra greyhounds are from different litters and each races under separate ownership.
"We have never had five runners in one race before but luckily Alan knows a lot of people at Nowra and managed to organise catchers for all the dogs," wife Christine said this week.
And did the fastest dog win?
"Tarawi Thunder has ability but if we trialled them solo Love To Rock, who finished fourth, would probably run the fastest time," Christine added.
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After Just A Tiger notched his ninth win at Gosford last Tuesday night owner-trainer Zadia Smith remarked: “Not bad for a dog with a leaking heart valve!"
Along with husband Eric, 81-year-old Zadia Smith trains Just A Tiger and his well performed litter sister Bit Elite at Glenning Valley, between Tuggerah and The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast.
While Bit Elite, currently recovering from an injury sustained in January, has won 11 races and earned $40,000 prizemoney, mostly over 520m at Wentworth Park, Just A Tiger is purely a short course performer.
And there is a good reason for that as Zaida discovered early in the dog’s career.
"Just A Tiger would clock sub 30 seconds figures for 515 metres at Gosford but while he could run brilliant first and second sections his third splits were terrible," she said this week.
"I noticed that after a hard run beyond 500 metres Just A Tiger’s rib cage would be thumping violently and it would take him four hours to fully recover.
"After I pointed this out to my veterinary surgeon, Peter Yore, he agreed with me that Just A Tiger has a leaking valve in his heart.
"The dog is fine but I mostly race him over 400 metres at Gosford and maybe 450 metres at Maitland at a pinch.
"He won’t be racing further than the Maitland distance and I don’t trial him at all and never race him more than once a week."
Until Bit Elite and Just A Tiger came along Eric and Zadia were set to quit the sport but stayed in the game on the advice of their doctor, who insisted maintaining their involvement in greyhound racing would be beneficial for their health.
So they bought Bit Elite and Just A Tiger for just $1500 apiece and now have added three 12 month old Magic Sprite puppies to their team.
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Bush trainer Garry Streatfield has come a long way since training his first Wentworth Park winner, Typical Storm, a decade ago.
Typical Storm was a giveaway to Garry, and the 720m city winner was so unfashionably bred that his dam had been obtained from the pound and his sire was, like his offspring, a giveaway dog.
But last year Garry landed the Casino and Gunnedah Cup finals with Glenreagh Rocket who then posted a slick 29.97 when winning at Wentworth Park on February 7 this year.
And now Glenreagh Rocket’s litter sister Noir Lee, a daughter of Garry and his pal Brent Jones’ former top race bitch Avon Lee, is carrying all before her.
She broke the Kempsey track record for 508m with a 29.46 performance on March 22 and last Thursday at Maitland rocketed over the 450m trip in 25.09, a mere 0.22 outside Paw Licking’s time standard for the Hunter Valley circuit.
Garry Streatfield trains, breeds and rears greyhounds on 112 acres at Glenreagh, midway between Coffs Harbour and Grafton.
But while he has plenty of room to raise and train his greyhounds, he concedes his property is not luxurious.
"Most of the acreage is pure scrub," Garry says.
Canberra-based Brent Jones, a retired member of the Australian Government’s diplomatic corps, raced Avon Lee and when she was in pup to Magic Sprite, Garry whelped the litter on his property.
When Magic Sprite whelped eight puppies Garry and Brent split the litter, sharing Glenreagh Rocket and another smart sprinter, Magic Diore in partnership, while Garry races Noir Lee.
