All Smiles for Verhagen

By Jeff Collerson

Smiley Mulwee enhanced her winning strike rate to better than 50 per cent with her slick 22.45sec effort over 400m at Maitland on Thursday.

Smiley Mulwee has now won 22 of 43 races, and while she has yet to race in the metropolitan area any greyhound compiling a consistent tally like that is doing plenty right.

Owner Alex Verhagen and trainer Natasha Watson are now aiming to bring Smiley Mulwee to Wentworth Park for the first time.

"There are heats at LADBROKES GARDENS shortly with the final at Wentworth Park so hopefully Smiley Mulwee will qualify for a race in town,'' Verhagen said.

"She was set to contest a similar event once before but pulled up sore after her qualifying race and had to be scratched from the Wenty final.

"I plan to breed from Smiley Mulwee when she finishes racing as she is bred in the purple and is closely related to former champion stayer Sweet It Is and Banjo Boy, who won over $132,000 on the racetrack.''

Verhagen is a remarkable character as he is rearing 100 young greyhounds on his 25 acre property at Swan Bay, near Newcastle, where he also keeps a selection of brood bitches.

He has bounced back from an horrific car accident in February when returning from a visit to Gunnedah greyhound track.

A car travelling in the opposite direction crossed to the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with Verhagen's vehicle.

Verhagen had to have a leg amputated as a result of the accident, while the driver of the other car was killed instantly.

Push It, who won 11 of 39 starts when trained by Dean Swain, is the best greyhound Verhagen has raced while he won recently at WP with the Stephen Bell-trained Jack's Girl.

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BARGO trainer Simon Rhodes continued his winning streak with Victorian "rejects'' with Louie Allen winning first-up for him at Dapto on Thursday night and Dyna Worker pulling off a $31 upset victory at Wentworth Park 48 hours later.

Louie Allen, who had gone into the race with a less than imposing record of four wins from 54 starts south of the border, was Rhodes' third winner in two race meetings with former Victorian greyhounds.

He had landed a winning double at Wentworth Park on Wednesday night with Dyna Elise and Sammy Allen, who, like Louie Allen, were previously trained in Melbourne for owner Brendan Wheeler.

Sammy Allen scored his third Wenty win from nine appearances for Rhodes while Dyna Elise, having only her second outing for her new trainer, led throughout in a Dapto To Wenty Final.

Despite running wide all the way, Dyna Elise carved out handy initial splits of 5.47 and 14.05 before winning by seven lengths from Dyna Worker, another Rhodes-trained Victorian discard.

Rhodes nearly jagged the trifecta as his third qualifier for the Wentworth Park final, Dyna Elvio, finished strongly into fourth position after bungling the start from box five.

Rhodes' hot form continued at headquarters on Saturday when Dyna Worker, another Brendan Wheeler-owned former Victorian, led throughout to take out the final event at only his third start for his new trainer.

"Dyna Elise is probably the slowest of the trio I had in the Dapto To Wenty Final but she has good early pace and pinched a big break on her rivals,'' Rhodes said.

"I rate Dyna Elvio, the dog who was unplaced, as the quickest of the trio I raced at Wentworth Park on Wednesday so he should win races there.''

Rhodes is enjoying a stellar year, having also won at Wentworth Park with former Victorians Dyna Orenthal (five wins), Bonna Bale and Dyna Aviator.