Saturday night's Wentworth Park meeting almost certainly unearthed greyhound racing's latest long-distance star with record breaking middle distance dog Mr Shire making a resounding 720m debut.
Mr Shire, the 600m record holder at Gosford and The Gardens, scored a tenacious two lengths' win after being hampered at the first turn, colliding with just under a lap to go, and coming from midfield.
While Mr Shire didn't break any records on Saturday, his time of 42.69 was respectable and while trainer Bob McColm had given the dog a sound preparation he believes there is a lot of improvement ahead.
"To familiarise him with going twice past the winning post at Wentworth Park I had slipped Mr Shire from in front of the long-distance boxes so in his trial he went about 700m,'' McColm said after the race. "Tonight was his first time out of the 720m starting boxes and I've no doubt he has a lot of improvement in him.''
Fastest 520m time of the night was Winsome Mission's blistering 29.63sec performance in a third and fourth grade event.
Winsome Mission (pictured, black rug) was having only third NSW start in over five months, having returned from a successful campaign in Western Australia.
"The dog was with leading Perth trainer Paul Stuart but hurt his hock on April 30 and came back to Sydney," Patricia Chaker, who handled Winsome Mission for her brother-in-law John Finn said.
"John was not well enough to come tonight so I handled Winsome Mission, who has been trialling well since he recovered from his injury.
"Ironically though, at Richmond the other day he did not trial quite as fast as his kennelmate Winsome Spring, yet he was beaten into third place in a fifth grade tonight!''
Father and son trainers and breeders Ken and Craig Chappelow had a satisfying night winning with Enrage and having bred an earlier winner, Moonstone Kahn.
Enrage began brilliantly and led all the way to score his first Wentworth Park win in a fifth grade while the DEAN Swain-trained Moonstone Kahn led throughout in a similar class event.
"We brought Enrage to Wenty last Tuesday and trialled him over 520m and he clocked 30.17," Ken Chappelow, whose son Craig trains Enrage, said.
"The dog ran almost exactly the same time tonight, 30.18.
"Enrage has terrific early speed but the 520m at Wentworth Park is as far as he wants to go.
"We bred Moonstone Kahn and sold him as a puppy to Queensland-based owner Michael Laffey.
"Moonstone Kahn is a younger full brother to 2013 National Derby winner Jagger Swagger, being by Premier Fantasy from our bitch Surpassing.''
Trainer Christine Proctor conceded she was slightly surprised by Runway Idole's all the way win on Saturday.
"I have always preferred to see her drawn wide because she uses a bit of the track,' Christine Proctor said. "But she has good early pace and if she can lead at the first turn, like she did tonight, the boxes don't matter.''
See you next week!
