Evie’s Best's remarkable 29th win at her 54th start last Thursday at Maitland is a tribute to the perseverance shown by her trainer Bill Marmara.
Marmara, who bred the brilliant front-runner from his former nippy race bitch Evie Vella, revealed that Evie's Best once looked hopeless as a racing proposition.
“I educated her and she broke in reasonably well,” Marmara recalled.
“But when I began trialling her, she would turn around in the starting boxes and come out backwards.
“Evie's Best did that in her first three trials and I figured if she continued to do that she wouldn't win many races.
“So I fiddled around with her and kidded to her and eventually she mended that bad habit and suddenly became the fast beginner she is now.
“Evie's Best's win over 450m at Maitland was the longest race she has been in, and the way she went she looks as if she will get 520m.
Marmara, a successful hobby trainer for 35 years, was employed by Holroyd Council, in western Sydney, for 32 years before retiring and moving to Gunnedah.
“After living at Merrylands I moved five years ago to be close to my daughter and my three grand-children,” Marmara said.
“Best greyhound I have trained would be Thank You Brian, a handy long-distance dog I trained in the mid-1990s.
“But Evie's Best's dam Evie Vella won 14 races and was a winner over 520m at Wentworth Park. She is now the family house pet up here at Gunnedah.”
