Marsden On A Successful Highway

By Jeff Collerson

Hardaway Highway enhanced his phenomenal streak to eight successive wins with a tenacious victory over 400m at Richmond on Saturday night.

The Ron Marsden-trained dog had won a Richmond 400m heat 72 hours earlier but his win on Saturday was his best yet as he was checked at the half way mark and had to come from third position approaching the home turn.

Hardaway Highway, who was bred by Marsden from his greyhound Hardaway Shiraz, will now contest a 400m final at Richmond on Wednesday.

"After Wednesday's race I intend trying him over 472 metres at Bulli,'' Marsden said. "He has won up to 440m at Goulburn and I have no doubt he will 'get' the 472m at Bulli.

"But whether he will run 520m at Wentworth Park, around two turns, is another matter.

"Following a couple of Bulli 472m races I will take him to Wenty and trial him over 520m, that's the only way to find out if he can run it.

"It might only be an extra 50 metres but it is a big step up from Bulli to Wentworth Park and over the years I have seen many greyhounds hit a brick wall when they tackle the 520m at Wenty.''

Marsden's most successful Wentworth Park performer was Muralitharan, whose 20 wins between 2003 and 2005 included seven successes at the Glebe track.

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Retired ladies' hairdresser Robert Arnold has always been one of the sport's quiet achievers and he accomplished a rare feat at Nowra on Saturday, training the first four in a 520m graded race.

Arnold's quartet, Simone Shimmers, Dearness Dark, Jeremiah Horstig and Becoming A Man were drawn in the same event and they filled the first four placings, in that order.

Take a bow Robert!

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Fornindo's long-priced win in a fast 29.90 at Dapto on Thursday continued a long and successful combination between trainer Anthony Hokin and owner Stephen Humphreys.

Hokin, a retired builder, and Humphreys, a retired pharmacist, began their association when they bought Midnight Style, who was whelped over 25 years.

Midnight Style's offspring were consistently good producers and Where's Jude, a descendant of that greyhound, is the mother of Fornido and his kennelmate Where's PIP, a recent Wentworth Park winner for Hokin and Humphreys.

Fornido is a member of the fifth generation of greyhounds the close friends have raced.

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Retired COALMINER and Vietnam veteran Ray Morris took a bold step when he forked out $6000 for Duck's Luck, a winner of four provincial races.

His hopes were almost dashed when his new purchase fell at his first start for Morris but the dog has since won at Wentworth Park and on Thursday was an impressive Maitland winner.

"His fall was at The Gardens so I was concerned he might be a bit wary of racing there immediately so took him to Wentworth Park instead,'' Morris said.

"He was placed in two of his first three races at Wenty and then won there on March 5.''

Since the Wentworth Park win Duck's Luck has been placed in five successive races at Wentworth Park and Maitland before winning on Thursday over the 450m trip in a scorching 24.84.

Morris served in the Vietnam War alongside another greyhound trainer Ken Wright, who won the 2006 Golden Easter Egg with Edie Beauchamp and the 2005 National Derby with Eiffella.