Rank outsider Apatite ended a decade long drought for Queensland stayers when she registered an upset all-the-way win in Saturday night's Group 3 Ladbrokes Sydney Cup at Wentworth Park.
Apatite became the first Queensland-based greyhound to win the time-honoured race since Quidame in 2006, giving her trainer Joanne Price her biggest success in Sydney.
Price has been a frequent visitor to WP in 2015 and '16 with another of her stayers, Mullaway, who has won 22 races including a win and five placings from nine Wenty appearances.
Mullaway missed qualifying for Saturday night's Sydney Cup but Apatite made full use of a slick getaway and was in front at the first turn.
While she was chased throughout by favourite Miss Foxy Lee and National Distance Championship winner Ring The Bell, Apatite hung on gamely to win by a length.
Fastest heat winner More In Store was well back throughout and finished sixth, while WA qualifier Olivia Benson, who was expected to be the pacemaker, was never going to play the role after bungling the start.
There was no fluke about the success either as Apatite covered the 720m in 42.29sec, which bettered Ada Mary's 2015 winning figures of 42.34.
Canyonleigh trainer Ruth Matic's greyhound Kedo's Millie contested Melbourne's Group 1 Topgun won by Chicago Blue in 1997 but believes Black Bear Lee will give her a better chance in the big race if he is selected to contest the October 24 event at The Meadows.
Black Bear Lee followed a personal best 29.66 win at Wentworth Park last Wednesday with a tenacious performance to take out Saturday night's Free-For-All in 29.92.
Black Bear Lee went around the first turn disputing the lead with Ando's Mac, but after shrugging off that greyhound was joined on the back straight by Good Odds Angel.
But Matic's greyhound was not to be denied and pulled away from Good Odds Angel before easily holding out a strong finishing Ritza Rossi to score his 15th Wentworth Park success.
"Black Bear Lee is such a determined chaser, he literally shouldered Ando's Mac out of the way at the first turn,'' Matic said later. "He has won three Group races but it would still be a terrific thrill to see him chosen to compete in the Topgun.''
An old training ploy almost certainly helped Springcreek Bill, prepared by veteran trainer Bill Bates, win Saturday night's Lincoln's Last Stand Stakes.
Springcreek Bill had been slowly away before recording two wins and five placings from seven previous Wentworth Park outings but jumped in third place on Saturday.
While strong finisher Winsome Amanda grabbed the lead leaving the back straight, Springcreek Bill ran her down in the straight to win by a length.
"Previously I have been trialling Springcreek Bill at Dapto and then racing him at Wentworth Park,'' Bates said. "Years ago I had success with slow beginners by trialling them behind the very quiet lure at Bulli and then nominating for Wenty.
"I don't know why but it seems to help dogs begin when they return to the louder Wentworth Park lure so I sent Springcreek Bill around Bulli for a trial in the lead-up to tonight's race.''
Explosive Range scored a surprise win in Saturday night's opening event but trainer Daniel Flanagan said the dog had been trialling well enough to return to the winning list.
"I trialled him recently with Jason Mackay's dog Zipping Silva, who won four races in succession late last month, and they went stride for stride all the way,'' Flanagan said.
"That told me there was nothing amiss with my bloke and he ran accordingly tonight.''
See you next week!
