Ritza Lenny captured time honours and Thirty Talks lived up to his lofty reputation in a cracking opening to the Richmond Riches Puppy Classic series (535m) on Saturday night.
Trained by Mark Gatt, Ritza Lenny jumped well from box three and was never threatened in taking out his heat in 30.32 and extend his record to nine wins from 16 starts.
Thirty Talks (pictured with Tony Brett), meanwhile, was not far off the time set by Ritza Lenny, clocking 30.47 in his five-and-three-quarter length win.
Having his second start at Richmond, Thirty Talks jumped much better than at his track debut to lead the field through the first turn and was then never headed to land the victory and qualify for Saturday's semi finals.
Thirty Talks, who was the highest priced greyhound ever sold at auction when he was purchased for $30,000, has now won nine from 12 starts and despite being a few seconds off Ritza Lenny would still be the favourite to take out the Richmond Riches series given the talent he has shown in his career to date.
In other heat results, tt was a nice homecoming for former NSW trainer Steve White, who trained two winners a runner-up from his three runners in the heats.
Paua To Engage was arguably White's most impressive runner, leading all the way to in 30.75, while Paua To Rush dominated his heat taking it out by more than five lengths in a time of 30.91.
White's other runner Paua To Avoid finished second to Thirty Talks, a result that will see her qualify for Saturday's semi finals along with her two kennelmates.
Other heat winners were Battle Station (30.94, trained by Neville Brown), Bent Poppy (31.01, Frank Cini), Cawbourne Kristy (Anthony Roberts, 30.89) an Et Cetera (Judith Fisher, 30.63).
The Richmond Riches Puppy Classic series is open to greyhounds sold at the 2014 Richmond Puppy Auction.
Semi-finals will take place this Saturday with the final, worth $100,000 to the winner, on May 28.
