Trainer Jason Magri believes new kennel addition Black Menace has the makings to be a star if he can fulfil some of the promise he has shown in his short career to date.
Black Menace has won four of his last five starts and will line up in heat three (race seven) of the Aup-Pump Blue Paws Sprint Series (472m) at Bulli tonight.
"He's quite new to my kennels and I've only had him for a few weeks," Magri said.
"Before he came to me, one of his owners (Ben Nahirny) was training him. I'm still learning a lot about the dog but he definitely has shown his ability in his past few starts.
"The potential is there with this dog and you can see that in his past five starts in particular."
Black Menace has shown a liking for one-turn tracks of late with all his five of wins coming at either Goulburn or Bulli. However Magri's plan is to start moving the greyhound back to two-turn tracks where Black Menace started his racing career.
"Eventually we will put him on two turn tracks again," he said.
"At his first Wentworth Park start three weeks ago he got a bit caught up and finished at the back of the field but I think that's more to do with his age and experience than anything else.
"With young dogs like him, when they come off a big track like he did at Goulburn it often takes them two or three runs around the circle tracks to get their bearings right again.
"We've trialled him around two turns recently and he's gone really well so a move is looking promising with him."
Magri is expecting Black Menace to be competitive in tonight's race but believes that his draw (box four) could cause a few issues.
"He'll need a few things to go right in his race tonight. There's a bit of pace there especially with Shoulders on our inside and we're both going to have to watch out for the dog in the two (Sir Lancelot)," Magri said.
"He likes to get to middle of the track and if he tries to do that tonight he'll tangle up with Shoulders and Black Menance.
"So our best hope is that we jump with Shoulders and can clear the two. If Black Menace can do that we'll have a good shot of winning."
Magri admits there is room for improvement with Black Menace but believes the greyhound is already showing signs of it.
"He's got to come out and run time. He won't be a chance this week or even next week if he makes it to the final if he can't run a competitive time," he said.
"If Black Menace can bring his trial form into race form and take the next step up he could be a very good dog. I'll be aiming him as well as few of my other dogs for the Bulli Gold Cup at the end of the month."
Magri also had another two runners engaged at Bulli tonight, but was forced to scratch Magic Maiden finalist Brasko Kahn this morning due to an back muscle injury.
"He won his semi-final but hurt himself in the final. We gave him a trial and he looked good to go for tonight but we checked him today and his back muscle was still tender so I had to pull him out. It's not worth risking it with him,” Magri said.
Magri's other dog Breaker Kahn will jump from box three in race eight tonight.
"He's my disappointment dog. He's very up and down and can do some silly things every now and again," he said.
"He's got a lot of ability though, he's run a 29.70 at Wentworth Park but he did something stupid there the next week and got a ticket.
"Bulli is not really his sort of track, he prefers the corners at places like Wenty but I'm just trying to get his confidence back up and get his mind back on the job so I thought tonight would be a good chance to get a run under his belt.
"He's need to draw the inside and he just hasn't had any luck with that recently. But he's got the three today and with the two dog scratched that should give him a little bit of an advantage."
