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Zipping Willow will be aimed at the Group 3 Christmas Gift (520m) in December after notching up her 18th Wentworth Park win on Saturday night.
Trainer Jason Mackay said the heats of the Christmas Gift would be an ideal lead-up to the Group 2 Gosford Cup heats on Boxing Day.
Zipping Willow and arch rival Anything Less staged another thrilling duel in Saturday night’s Rapidvite Blue Paws Stakes (520m). Mackay’s chaser jumped well and built a huge early lead, only for Anything Less to storm home to go under by just over a length in a time of 29.65.
The winning time was the fastest of the night and extended Zipping Willow's career record to an outstanding 31 wins from 47 starts - a winning strike rate of 66%.
Another greyhound on fire is Lady Ronray (pictured, black rug), who took her record to 13 wins from 16 starts in Saturday night’s Odds Park Corp Bitches Only Final (520m) at Wentworth Park.
Saturday night’s win was arguably Lady Ronray’s toughest performance as she had to win a duel for the early lead with front-running Senorita Pearl and then hold off a late bid by Zipping Tarn to score in a slick 29.71.
Trainer Ray Steele will now seek permission to trial his brilliant speedster at Sandown on Thursday night with the aim to run Lady Ronray in next month’s Group 2 Sandown Laurels Classic, a 515m $50,000 to the winner race for females starting on December 7.
"I’d prefer to give her a look at Sandown during Thursday’s race meeting because on trial days the track conditions don’t always give you a clear guide as to how your greyhound has performed," Steele said at Wentworth Park.
"Hopefully Sandown officials will allow me to trial her and if they do I will drive to Melbourne on Wednesday to give her time to acclimatise."
Meanwhile, Pumped Up Zarr confirmed his ranking as NSW’s top stayer with his seventh win in 13 Wentworth Park 720m starts in Saturday night’s Petsnacks Stakes.
Pumped Up Zarr had not raced since November 1 but trainer Neil Staines had no concerns about the dog not being ready to run out a strong 720m.
"I didn’t plan it that way because I nominated the dog for the Bold Trease Cup heats at Sandown on November 13 but had to scratch him when my wife took ill," Staines said on Saturday night.
"But missing that run didn’t matter because Pumped Up Zarr races well fresh and I kept him fit by swimming him in my dam at home at Yass and with a couple of trials over 530m at Canberra and 457m at Goulburn."
Pumped Up Zarr will now tackle the Group 3 Schweppes Summer Cup heats at Wentworth Park this Saturday night.
Owner-trainer Jeff Eaton believes the compression rugs now widely used on greyhounds when travelling to race meetings have been a major factor in the consistent form of La Grand Logie who led throughout in Saturday night’s Ladbrokes Sprint Series final (520m).
La Grand Logie enhanced his tally to seven wins from 12 starts when he clocked a personal best 29.88 with a neck defeat of the consistent Raincheck.
"Before I began using the compression rug on him, La Grand Logie would bark all the way from my home at Jilliby to Wentworth Park," Eaton said.
"He would really work himself into a state by the time we got to the track but the rug has calmed him down completely so he saves his energy for the race."
