Lochinvar Kors Aims For More Success

By Jeff Collerson

Robert Smith will attempt to land his third Gosford fifth grade race in a week with Lochinvar Kors when the dog contests a heat at the Central Coast circuit tomorrow night.

Lochinvar Kors was part of a winning treble for the Newcastle trainer when he won over 515m in 30.04sec last Tuesday and posted 29.88 winning over the same course in an identical grade on Friday.

Smith has shown ingenuity in "placing'' his greyhounds at Gosford while his local track, The Gardens, has been laid low by torrential rain.

He won a fourth and fifth grade with Lochinvar Amour, a maiden heat with Lochinvar Dash and a fifth grade with Lochinvar Kors at Gosford last Tuesday.

Then on Friday, when Gosford replaced the washed out The Gardens fixture, Smith snared a winning double with Lochinvar Amour, again in a fourth and fifth grade, and Lochinvar Kors in a fifth class event, while he also won a performance trial with the unraced Lochinvar Klein.

"Lochinvar Kors has good early pace which is a big asset anywhere,'' Smith said. "Lochinvar Amour will now be nominated for Saturday night's heats of the group 1 National Futurity at Wentworth Park.

"I by-passed the open class group one Paws Of Thunder series to save her for the Futurity where she will be up against her own sex and age.

"Whether she will prove to be good enough for a Group 1 remains to be seen but she is going well enough to deserve her opportunity in the Futurity.''

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Knocka's Return is closing in on his 100th race start after scoring his 36th win at Bathurst on Friday.

The Mark Wilcox-trained and bred greyhound took out a strong 618m event at his 89th racetrack appearance.

The rising five-year-old has now won over distances ranging from 274 to 618 metres, while also filling 28 placings in a marvellous career.

Knocka's Return's litter brother Natural Player has also kept Wilcox in clover, scoring 34 wins and 12 placings from 59 starts.

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When Nicholas Majer bought a performed greyhound from renowned western districts breeder Marty Hallinan last year his purchase turned out to be a flop.

Hallinan generously agreed to allow Major to Return his purchase in exchange for a greyhound named Zipping Jet, on Saturday night that gesture paid dividends.

 Zipping Jet, trained for Majer by Christine Proctor, followed a luckless third placing at Wentworth Park last Wednesday with a runaway win in a nippy 30.01 in the opening fifth grade event.