Another Victory To Bessy Boo

Bessy Boo, whose first time owner knew so little about greyhounds she gave her male puppy a female name, swelled his earnings to $184,000 when he staged another last-to-first performance at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.

After a slow start, the Christine Proctor trained greyhound railed underneath four rivals going through the catching pen to be third on the back straight before heading off pacemaker Miss Sueko on the home bend.

Bessy Boo (pictured), who turned three in March, covered the 520m in 29.76, just 0.05 wide of his personal best Wentworth Park figures and ran home in a sizzling 11.70.

After the race trainer Proctor’s husband Alan explained: "When Bessy Boo’s owner Ashley Wilson arrived at our kennels with the registration papers I said, you do know this a boy dog don’t you?

"At first Ashley was going to change the name but when I said doing that was a bit involved she decided to leave it as it was."

Wilson was trackside on Saturday.

"Bessy Boo was an engagement present to me from a family friend," she said.

"Maybe having a girl’s name makes him run faster, but anyway my family and I just call him Boo."

Christine Proctor admitted later she could not expect to have another greyhound equal to her 2014 Peter Mosman Classic winner.

"Bessy Boo is the best greyhound I’ve had or can ever hope to have and is such a fantastic chaser that he only has to find the rails to be capable of winning anything," she said.

In other results on Saturday night, Knight Sprite earned a start in Saturday week’s Group 1 Peter Mosman Classic heats with his 29.88 runaway Wentworth Park win on Saturday night.

Knight Sprite swept past early leader Ella Has Class at the first turn and careered away to score by more than five lengths for his 12th win in 23 starts.

"He had three weeks off in the middle of April because he was telling me he needed a break," Knight Sprite's trainer Gayle Masterson said.
 
"Knight Sprite does that, if I find he suddenly doesn’t want to go into the starting boxes or wants to sit down when I put him in, that is an indication he wants to have a little spell.

"I know there will be some fantastic dogs in the Peter Mosman but he deserves his chance at it."

My Lady Day collected an $8000 winner’s cheque for her all-the-way effort in Saturday night’s Ladbrokes 2-5 Wins Final and owner-trainer Mick Traino has never been so jubilant.

"Because I had a stroke recently I have a lot of bills which need to be paid and that eight grand is going to make my life a lot easier," Traino said.

"My Lady Day is a bit like her mother Arica Dora in that once she gets to the lead she is virtually impossible to run down.

"I’m sure My Lady Day would get a middle distance but while she is sprinting so well there is no point in finding out.

"I may start her in Thursday night’s Dapto Oaks heats although she has had no experience on that track.

"But she would just follow the inside rail so I don’t think a lack of Dapto knowledge would worry her.

"However the Peter Mosman heats are on June 6 so I’ll just have to weigh up my options this week."

See you next week!