Cosmic Bonus, whose career was declared over when he fractured a shoulder nine months ago, is on target for next month's National Sprint Championship following his win in Wednesday's Grafton Cup.
Trained by his breeder Evelyn Harris, Cosmic Bonus recovered from the shoulder injury sustained in the Lismore Cup to win the Gosford Cup in January and has now added Grafton's biggest sprint to his tally.
"We will set him for the heats of the National Sprint at Wentworth Park on August 4,'' Evelyn Harris said.
"Wednesday's Cup win was among his best because Cosmic Bonus was giving the pacemaker Wheelie Wheels five lengths' start approaching the home turn.
"That was Cosmic Bonus' 31st win in 66 races, a strike rate that makes my husband Leonard and I very proud.''
Queenslander Jury, who led throughout to beat a red hot field in Thursday's Origin Series Final at Albion Park, is being groomed for an attempt to win the National Sprint for the second time.
The Tony Brett-trained greyhound took out last year's Championship on his home track, Albion Park, and is on target for another bid after winning Queensland's group 1 Winter Cup on July 5.
"My Brisbane Cup winner Fast Times, who has been injured, is still a couple of months away from a comeback so while Jury could be my only Championship starter, it only takes one dog to win it,'' Brett said.
Central Coast breeder Michael Ivers' phenomenal producer Trojan Tears has been reponsible for two National Distance Championship winners and is the ancestor of Australia's two most highly ranked stayers Tornado Tears and Rippin' Sam.
Tornado Tears won the world's richest long distance greyhound race, the 715m Sandown Cup on May 24, and twice broke the Albion Park 710m record last month.
He has earned nearly $344,000 in stakes while Rippin' Sam, who has been runner-up to Tornado Tears in three big finals, has won $291,000 in prizemoney.
While these Robert Britton-trained litter brothers are domiciled in Victoria, they were bred by Ivers, who owns Tornado Tears but sold Rippin' Sam to Hunter Valley-based Loren Harborne.
Kobble Creek, the 1999 National Distance Championship winner, was a grandson of Trojan Tears while her daughter Tip Top Tears took out the 2001 title.
"I don't know of a better foundation producer of long distance dogs than Trojan Tears, considering other staying champs like Space Star and Sergeant Major are also her descendants,'' Michael Ivers said.
Smart Valentino, who scored in 2013, was the most recent NSW-trained Distance Championship victor but Kanzan and Kihael Road, impressive winners at WP on Wednesday night, have now roared into contention.
Kanzan scored her second 720m win in four appearances when she ran down King Panda to win by seven lengths in 42.35, .18sec faster than her previous best WP figures.
"She is still improving and I believe she can get down to 42.10sec at Wenty,'' trainer John Smart said later.
Rookie stayer Kihael Road took 42.71sec to win at his 720m debut on Wednesday but was particularly impressive, storming home for a comfortable victory despite bungling the start and being checked early.
Michael Glasson, whose partner Kim Hyde trains Kihael Road, said later: "The dog had not even been trialled over that distance but went to the line full of running so he can obviously stay.
"Our only concern with Kihael Road is that he has got into the habit of refusing to go around a rival, he tends to wait for a rails run.
"He had box four tonight but Kihael Road has won each of his four starts from boxes one and two so the draw is likely to play a big part in how he progresses as a stayer.''
The National Sprint and Distance Championships, greyhound racing's equivalent to harness racing Inter-Dominion Championships, get under way with heats at Melbourne's Sandown on August 2 while the NSW series begins with sprint and distance heats at Wentworth Patk 48 hours later.
State finals will then be held at Sandown, Cannington (WA), Albion Park (Queensland), Launceston (Tasmania) and Angle Park (SA) with the grand finals, each worth $75,000, over 515m and 715m at Sandown on August 24.
