MOST trainers can only dream of preparing four winners at a single race meeting but Cowra's Rod McDonald pulled off a quartet of victories for the third time at Goulburn on Thursday.
McDonald, who trained the 2009 group 1 Golden Easter Egg winner Dana Beatrice (pictured in yellow), scored with Chatta Poochie and Dana Beatle in 350m events and with Dana Phantom and Hippo Clan over 440m.
"I had previously trained four winners at Canberra and at my local track, Cowra,'' McDonald said.
"For the past year or so I have only had handy bush dogs, nothing really worth bringing to Wentworth Park,'' McDonald said.
"I quit working at the local abattoirs 12 months ago to concentate on training greyhounds and currently have 24 race dogs and six puppies on their way through.
"Only sour note from Thursday's good day out was that Hippo Clan split the webbing on his foot during his win.
"I had planned to start him in one of the Temora heats of the Million Dollar Chase on September 16 so that is now up in the air.
"The dog which surprised me at Goulburn was Dana Phantom, because he clocked 25.03sec and until Thursday I had considered him just an average greyhound.''
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BRIAN Tuft, who began training greyhounds in Liverpool, England, but came to Australia as a professional soccer player, landed his fourth winning double with kennelmates and siblings O'Leary and O'Hara at Maitland on Thursday.
"Two mates and myself shared a litter whelped by Stunning Chloe in May, 2015, and two of the pups I received are O'Leary, who has won 14 races and O'Hara, an eight times winner,'' Tuft said.
"When they each won at Maitland on Thursday it was the fourth time they have won for me at the same race meeting.
"On one occasion they were drawn as first and second reserves but both got a start and I jagged the quinella when O'Leary defeated O'Hara.
"Best dog I've had was Sudden Splash, now a family pet, who was beaten in a photo finish by Oaks Road in the 2012 Maitland Cup but who won 22 races for me.
"My local track in England was St Helens, with Bolton principal course, while Ellesmere Port, Chester and Westhoughton were other courses where I averaged two winners each week.
"But I was also a soccer midfielder and was signed up to play for a successful Melbourne team, Prahran Slavia, a Czechoslovakian club, in the extremely strong Victorian State League.
"Prahran Slavia brought me and my family to Australia and when I retired from football I got back into the greyhounds.
"I have won 50 races over the past two years with just two dogs in my kennel, but while I am not ruling out a return to Wentworth Park, at 73 years old I find making the drive at night from my home at Rutherford to Sydney very tiring.''
