Good Odds Regina became a greyhound racing 'supermum' when she won Saturday night's top grade Wentworth Park race after giving birth to a litter of pups earlier this year.
The Frank Hurst-trained greyhound scored an upset win in 30.06, only .04 slower than her personal best Wentworth Park figures posted in April 2015.
Flashing Floods famously returned from producing babies to win the 2007 National Distance Championship and now Good Odds Regina has also proved that motherhood does not have to be a bar to racetrack success.
Before Saturday night's Free For All trainer Frank Hurst declared that favourite Good Odds Angel was quicker than Good Odds Regina but that the latter's inside draw gave her a great chance of filling a place at big odds.
But while Good Odds Angel often begins brilliantly and sets up a big early lead, she dwelt at the start on Saturday and had to work hard to hit the front momentarily on the back straight.
That effort took its toll and Good Odds Regina, who had been "parked'' on the rails in second spot, dashed to the lead approaching the home bend.
Chaser is set to be tested over a middle distance despite scoring his third Wentworth Park 520m win in a 520m fifth grade on Saturday night.
Chaser came from third on the home bend to defeat Tap Out Axe and early leader Coolyn's Magic in 30.37.
"Chaser's trainer Mark Gatt is keen to put him over a longer distance, probably over 618m at Richmond, a track the dog likes," owner Eddie Kingswell said. "Mark believes Chaser could even be a 720m greyhound.
"But he is still handy over 520m and his record of three wins and six placings from 16 Wenty starts over that distance would have been better only for a lot of bad boxes.
"Although he won from box five tonight Chaser desperately needs an inside draw.''
Saturday night's fastest time was recorded by the Craig Chappelow-trained Prevail, who led throughout to win a 520m fifth grade in 29.81.
Prevail had been unplaced in four Wentworth Park starts since winning there in mid-August but Chappelow was not surprised by her latest success.
"There were only six starters and Prevail had a vacant box on her left so I thought she had a good chance of going straight to the front,'' Chappelow said.
"There did not seem to be a lot of early pace among her rivals and I thought she only had to nail the start to be the pacemaker.
"Prevail had previously clocked 29.96 at Wenty but lately she had done a couple of out of character things, like veering to the right and colliding when the boxes opened.''
Chaser's trainer Mark Gatt landed a winning double when Fullstop Period scored a runaway win in his fastest Wentworth Park time in a 520m fifth grade on Saturday.
Fullstop Period, whose previous best Wentworth Park figures were 30.11, charged along the rails to lead going through the catching pen before bolting away in 29.98.
See you next week!
