Two groups of first time owners hit the ground running at Dubbo last Thursday when their purchases Give Us Double and Give Us Peace each won on debut.
Give Us Double, by Awesome Project from Kaliska, won over 318m while his litter sister Give Us Peace was successful over 400m.
Local trainer Charmaine Roberts won four races at Dubbo, taking her tally within 24 hours to five starters for five winners.
Roberts' stayer Packey Keeping had won easily at his first 720m start at Wentworth Park the night before the Dubbo meeting.
Roberts' other winners at Dubbo were Mick Keeping, who took his record to two wins from 5 starts with a 318m victory and Baracca Keeping, who has now notched 17 wins and 29 placings from 75 starts.
"Give Us Double and Give Us Peace are owned by a syndicate comprising different sets of owners who all live at either Dubbo or WELLINGTON,'' Roberts said.
"They brought along a cheer squad with them last Thursday and there would have been an additional 50 people through the gate.
"The owners bought these greyhounds as puppies for only $800 because when they approached their breeder Craig Ryan, from WELLINGTON, to buy Give Us Double for $600, he agreed to throw in Give Us Peace as well for only $200 extra.
"It is too early to predict whether they will run 500 metres because they are only babies, having been whelped at the end of December, 2015.
"They are by Awesome Project from Kaliska, which was a handy sprinter for Craig Ryan, winning a race at Wentworth Park.
"Last Thursday I was most confident about Baracca Keeping because that greyhound had won $35,000 prizemoney, with successful stints in WA and Victoria, so looked well placed in the Dubbo race.''
xxxx
A bite from a spider caused Friend Of Man to be scratched from his engagement at Wentworth Park on July 29 but the Doreen Drynan-trained greyhound showed he took no harm from that mishap with an impressive win there last Saturday night.
Showing his customary early dash, Friend Of Man led throughout to upset odds-on favourite Zipping Chang in the opening event, a 520m fifth grade.
"Friend Of Man is a litter brother to Miss Abbey Vale and Dee Dee Kay who had won previously for my daughter Kerry and I at Wentworth Park,'' Drynan said.
"But he was having only his eighth start on Saturday because he had a hock injury early in his career and took a long while to make it to the track.
"Friend Of Man is no champion but possesses good early speed which is always going to be a big asset for him.''
xxxxx
Nellie Lost It, who broke the long-standing Bathurst 618m record on March 27, made a successful return from injury to win over 700m there on Monday.
But owner-trainer Geoff Curtale believes Nellie Lost It "has a long way to go'' before she finds the form which enabled her to lower FINE And Fancy's 618m time standard, which had been posted at Bathurst in November, 2012.
"She has been sidelined with a cracked bone in a leg and a broken toe but before Monday's 700m race Nellie Lost It had being going okay in trials,'' Curtale said.
"Her times had not been brilliant but were good enough to convince me she could win her comeback race.
"But I was disappointed with her winning time on Monday as she led most of the way and only ran 42.04sec, while Sand Burner set the track record of 40.99sec in December, 2010.
"Nellie Lost It is not right yet but she is still young so I am going to have to persevere and hope she regains her peak form.
