Fernando Bale was the star attraction at Saturday night's opening round of the Group 1 Rapidvite Peter Mosman Classic series and he didn't let Wentworth Park fans down.
Australia's best greyhound (pictured) treated racegoers to yet another breathtaking all-the-way performance, winning heat five by 10 lenghs in 29.43, clearly fastest time of the night.
While we have seen some brilliant beginners over the years I can't recall seeing a greyhound who is so tradesmanlike about the way he goes about the task of nailing the start.
Fernando Bale is a a joy to watch, crouching at the front of his starting box and then, when the hare approaches, adjusting his stance to be poised and ready to ping out in front.
Little wonder he was able to post electrifying splits of 5.30, 13.54 and 17.63 on Saturday night.
Not far behind Fernando Bale was his kennelmate Dyna Double One, who headed pacemaker Knight Sprite going through the catching pen to win by more than five lengths in 29.56, recording second and third splits of 13.73 and 17.84.
After their races I asked trainer Andrea Dailly if there was much separating her two wonder dogs.
"There is virtually nothing between them and in fact when we trialled them solo at Geelong the other day Dyna Double One's time was a fraction quicker than what Fernando Bale posted,'' Dailly said.
"But Dyna Double One is not such a fast beginner and can find trouble in his races while Fernando Bale is the complete package.''
Dailly revealed that she had "sacked'' husband Tom as Dyna Double One's handler on Saturday night.
"When Tom takes Dyna Double One to the boxes the dog tends to play up but if I lead him out he is as quiet as a lamb so I handled him tonight and Dyna Double One began pretty well.''
And while he was comfortably beaten into second place by Dyna Double One, No Donuts remains NSW's top prospect in the Peter Mosman.
After his mediocre getaway No Donuts was never going to be able to give Dyna Double One a start and a beating, but he would certainly have finished much closer had he not checked off Knight Sprite's heels leaving the back straight.
Even Ken Peddie, who heads the syndicate which owns Camacho, was surprised by the way the Ron Bell-trained greyhound won his heat in 30.11.
Renowned as purely a front runner, Camacho dwelt at the start while Steel The Best came out running to set up a big early lead.
"When Camacho didn't lead I thought he was gone,'' Peddie conceded after heat four. "It was really encouraging to see him come from second in the middles stages to lead on the home bend and win comfortably.
"Camacho hurt his hip when second at The Gardens on May 8 and had only two hand-slips before winning over 450m at Maitland nearly three weeks later.
"And after Maitland he had just one hand-slip leading up to tonight's race.''
Trainer John Ayoub was disappointed with Dear Darcey's unplaced run at Wentworth Park on May 30 but box practice and a sizzling midweek trial transformed the dog enough for him to win heat three in 30.03sec.
"He missed the kick last week but his run still disappointed me so I sharpened him up with some box work and then trialled him on my local track where he went the quickest he has ever gone,'' Ayoub said on Saturday.
At just 22 months of age Dear Darcey will be among the "babies'' in next Saturday night's Peter Mosman Classic semi-final lineup.
Fernando Bale is set to take on Winsome Warrior, who was one of five qualifiers from the Finn kennels, while Dyna Double One's rivals will include Camacho.
See you next week!
