LOVE You More's three wins and two placings from her past five starts reflect trainer ERNIE Borg's conviction that his greyhound is "just learning what racing is all about.''
After an average beginning to her career, Love You More has been firing on all cylinders recently and last Thursday night clocked the fastest time of the Dapto To Wenty heats.
She led throughout from box one and recorded a brilliant 29.94sec for the 520m, setting the standard for Wednesday night's Wentworth Park final.
"Love You More's box manners can still be erratic but she is learning all the time,'' Borg said.
"She hates being placed into the starting boxes and is difficult to put in, but once I manage to get her in there she is fine.
"Love You More is from the fourth litter of my brood bitch Queen's Gate, who was lightly raced after being prematurely retired due to a torn hip support.
"Queen's Gate was going to be a terrific stayer but I did not get the chance to put her over the longer distances and she retired with four wins from only 15 starts.''
Despite not being tested as a stayer Queen's Gate's four litters have included the ERNIE Borg-trained offspring Golden Gate, whose eight wins included a WP 720m success, Finding Mo, Finding Larry and Spring Gate, who have won six races apiece.
Borg's brother George has also enjoyed success with Queen's Gate's progeny, having trained Mystagogy to win 18 races and Pedagogy to salute the judge on a dozen occasions.
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BRANXTON trainer John Miles was back in the winning list at Maitland last Thursday when Zipping Burgess, a 20 month old youngster, scored a determined 400m win in 22.76sec.
Zipping Burgess was crowded for room early and went to the line strongly to win a maiden event at his third start.
The Marty Hallinan-bred youngster could pay to follow as while Miles has had few starters in the past two years, his greyhounds are renowned for compiling remarkable strike rates.
His former crack short course speedster Blue Thunder won 18 of only 23 starts, while Chasing Glory won 22 of 57 races, Laurie's Placard 20 from 38, with Black Tommie, Black Eva and Tommie's Placard registering 36 victories between them.
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Poco Dorado made a slashing middle distance debut over 600m at Dapto on Thursday, leading throughout and scoring by nine lengths in near track record time of 34.17sec.
While she has always looked like developing into a good 720m greyhound, lack of opportunities for stayers may see her restricted to middle distances and even 520m racing at Wentworth Park at this stage of her career.
"The problem is that once you win a couple of 720m races at Wentworth Park and get up in grade it is difficult to obtain starts in long distance events,'' trainer John Finn said.
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Almost Black, who turned four in January, is on his way to contesting his 100th race after winning Thursday's Masters event at Maitland.
Almost Black, the first greyhound raced by his young owner Jed Martin and trained by John Chapman, took his earnings to $61,542 with his 34th race win on Thursday.
Almost Black has so far faced the starter on 97 occasions with his record also including 32 placings.
