Zipping Inglis, a $5000 bargain buy as a ready-to-race prospect, may have earned a tilt at the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup with his third win in four starts last Friday.
Owned and trained by Daniel Flanagan, Zipping Inglis led throughout over The Gardens 515m trip, winning by nearly 10 lengths in a blistering 29.53.
The success took Zipping Inglis' record to three wins and a third from four starts, a remarkable achievement for such a modestly-priced greyhound.
"Owner-breeder Marty Hallinan had the dog with a Victorian trainer but when Zipping Inglis came back to him without having a race, Marty offered him to me,'' Flanagan said.
"Marty had heard I was looking for another greyhound and sold Zipping Inglis to me for $5000, assuring me I would have a 'bit of fun' with the dog.
"I plan to nominate Zipping Inglis for a fifth grade at Maitland and if he goes well I will enter him for the Maitland Gold Cup heats on March 16.
"After that series I will probably start him at Gosford because I want to work through the low grades with him at the provincials before heading to Wentworth Park."
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Country trainer Jim COLEMAN landed a winning double at Goulburn last Tuesday, just four days after being caught up in one of the worst bushfires in years.
COLEMAN, who won with litter brother and sister Gazza Tron and Our Equity over 350m at Goulburn, trains at Carwoola, east of Queanbeyan.
A 3500ha fire which tore through Carwoola and neighbouring Captains Flat on Friday, February 17, destroying 15 homes, and only a late wind change saved COLEMAN's house and greyhounds.
"The fire was on my road and it was obviously very scary,'' COLEMAN said. "I was in its path but at the last minute the wind turned around and blew the flames towards the coast.
"My daughter's nearby property was badly damaged but miraculously her home was saved, thanks to water bombing aircraft sent from Sydney.''
COLEMAN trains his Goulburn winners for Garry Harriden, who has a large team of greyhounds with various trainers in NSW and Victoria.
"My best greyhound in recent times was Chocolate Bullet, who won 14 races and filled 26 placings, but she has just been retired,'' COLEMAN said.
"Gazza Tron has won five from 10 starts while Our Equity's tally is three wins from nine appearances and obviously, Gazza Tron is the better of the pair.''
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Starburst Bassy, who prefers running in daylight to racing at night, relished being in the opening event at last Wednesday's Wentworth Park meeting according to owner-trainer Stuart Barron.
Starburst Bassy's long-priced upset win did not really surprise Barron, although the dog's time for the 520m, a personal best 30.07, did shock him.
"I have always thought of him as more of a 30.30 dog around Wentworth Park so I am shocked he went so quick,'' Barron said after Starburst Bassy's all-the-way win.
"He loves the rails draw and tonight's was his fourth win in six starts wearing the red rug, but his Bathurst form and tonight's daylight saving race one win suggests he might go better under day conditions.
"People sometimes forget racing greyhounds are only dogs, and like all canines they have different habits and quirks.''
In the 1970s there was an outstanding greyhound called Top Silhouette, who was virtually unbeatable at Moss Vale and Goulburn daytime meetings but who had a poor record at night.
Eventually Top Silhouette was drawn in the first race at a Harold Park daylight saving scheduled race meeting, and, relishing the conditions, she bolted in to record her first city win.
