Poke The Bear set the time standard in Saturday night's heats of the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase in a performance which could only enhance his widely held ranking as Australia's best sprinter.
Trained in Victoria by Seona Thompson, Poke The Bear won heat two of the second round of Wentworth Park in 29.51sec, heading off local flyer Sky Wave at the first turn to win by six-and-a-half lengths.
Poke The Bear was part of a winning treble for Thompson, who also landed heat one with Despacito in 29.86 and took out the final event, a 520m fifth grade, with Panhandle Slim in 29.87sec.
Saturday's other Chase heats were won by the David Geall-trained My Redeemer in a snappy 29.67 and the Andrea Dailly-trained duo Dyna Zesty and Immen Bale in 29.97 and 30.02 respectively.
Victorian-trained greyhounds won all five heats of the first Wentworth Park round of the Chase on September 22 and again dominated Saturday night's quintet of qualifying races for the October 12 semi-finals.
Poke The Bear had been unplaced at his only previous Sydney outing, in a heat of the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg on March 17, but trainer Thompson's husband Jason said before last Saturday's race that the dog had been desperately unlucky in that event.
Thompson revealed that Poke The Bear had trialled "as fast as he has ever gone'' in the lead-up to Saturday's return to Wentworth Park and while the greyhound's time was slower than the figures posted by Benali (29.29) and Orson Allen (29.43) in the first round of heats, gusty conditions made this week's track slower.
"I reckon it was two or three tenths slower,'' said Michael Phillips, part-owner of Sydney's number one sprinter Miss Splendamiro, who led throughout to win Saturday night's Free-For-All in 29.52sec.
"Our greyhound clocked 29.46 finishing second to Orson Allen last week and she did that after being in plenty of trouble during the race,'' Phillips said.
"Watching her go straight to the front this week I expected her to clock no worse than 29.40 so the windy conditions surely contributed to a slower track.''
Champion bitch Up Hill Jill was surprisingly run down and beaten three-quarters of a length by Immen Bale in her heat and trainer David Geall conceded after the race he was "slightly disappointed'' with her run.
"I am probably being a bit harsh because Jill has now had 18 starts at Wentworth Park for nine wins, seven seconds and a third in the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder and you can't get more consistent than that,'' Geall said.
"But when she led I expected her to win although having said that, Immen Bale was the worst possible dog to have sitting on her hammer at the half-way mark.
"In Melbourne he is usually way back in the field early but he does get to the line powerfully so I guess he was always going to be hard to hold out.''
Immen Bale scored a long-priced win for Andrea Dailly but her husband Tom, who handled the team on Saturday night, was not surprised by Dyna Zesty's all-the-way win in her Chase heat.
"Dyna Zesty looked our best chance tonight because when she ran fourth to Dyna Chancer in her heat a week earlier she was having her first look at Wentworth Park,'' Dailly said.
"She is capable of beginning quickly although never as fast as she did tonight when she virtually came out under the lids.''
Saturday's quality 720m fourth and fifth grade provided a thrilling finish, with Kihael Road powering along the rails from third early to win by a head from Taken King, who had been fourth turning for home.
The Andrea Dailly-trained Rockstar Patriot, who set the pace, was a neck away third in a smart 42.03sec.
Taken King had won in 41.86 at his previous Wentworth Park start so Saturday's cleanly-run race was further indication that the track was somewhat slower this week.
