CLAY Mullens, owner of leading GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase candidate Champion Model, was virtually "born" into the thoroughbred racing industry but has always preferred greyhounds.
Mullens' parents Wendy and Terry owned the champion racehorse Sebring, who won the Group 1 Golden Slipper and Sires Produce Stakes in the 2007-08 season and earned over $2.5 million on the track before becoming a leading sire.
"Being around horses like Sebring fuelled my passion for racing but I always had a preference for greyhounds, and in my early 20s I started breeding, buying and training dogs,'' Mullens, now 28, said.
"Four years ago the pressure of my business interests, including property development and owning a car yard, selling used prestige vehicles at Five Dock, forced me to stop training.
"But I have never lost my love of being involved with greyhounds and I bred Champion Model, who is trained by Jodie Lord, from a bitch I owned called Clay Model.
"Clay Model won only three races from 13 starts but she was a lot better than that record would suggest.
"She was a super fast bitch but did not always reveal her true ability on the track and I had been advised that female greyhounds with that trait are capable of producing top notch racers.
"Fast Archer, who won 21 races, was from an earlier litter whelped by Clay Model and now Champion Model has won the Goulburn and Canberra Cups and taken out the Temora regional final of the Million Dollar Chase.''
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FORBES trainer Raymond "Jack'' Smith has had a phenomenal year with greyhounds like Little Digger, a favoured Million Dollar Chase semi-finalist, but he has also sold two greyhounds who helped give Werombi's Andrew Bell a week to remember.
Bell, who has 30 greyhounds in training, landed an astonishing seven winners within 24 hours last week, taking out four races on Tuesday at LADBROKES GARDENS and snaring a treble at Richmond's Wednesday twilight fixture.
Bell's Newcastle winners were Irish Tiger and Sketchy Nick in 400m events, Another Pinch over 515m and Irinka Leanne in a 600m race.
At Richmond he scored with Irinka Leanne's former Raymond Smith-trained kennelmate Irinka Hamo over 618m along with King Jeremy in a 535m race and Just Magic over 330m.
"Irinka Hamo has been a terrific buy because he scored by 13 lengths on Tuesday and has won seven of 13 races for my wife Debbie and myself since joining our kennels,'' Bell said.
"He is going terrific but Irinka Leanne is proving a bit harder to place because she is a third grade stayer, having won three races over 720m at Wentworth Park in May when she was with Raymond Smith.
"To get her into an easier grade I took her to LADBROKES GARDENS for a 600m race and while she won, she only got up just in time because that distance is probably a bit short for her.
"King Jeremy's second placing in the Wagga regional final of the Million Dollar Chase on September 14 has put him in the semis at Wentworth Park on October 12 and I expect Just Magic to do well this preparation.
"He won over 330m at Richmond because he was resuming racing after a calf muscle injury but he is better suited over 500m.''
After working in the mines for 25 years Andrew Bell began training greyhounds two years ago in his home town of Boggabri, before moving to Werombi, in order to be closer to TAB tracks, on January 1 this year.
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NATHAN Doggett, who suffered horrendous injuries in a freak motor vehicle accident 13 weeks ago, was back at Wentworth Park on Wednesday night.
Doggett has had several operations, including facial reconstruction, after another car struck a kangaroo and propelled the wounded animal through the windscreen of his car.
The injured kangaroo clawed and ripped Doggett's face and body and the popular trainer was close to death for several days.
Doggett and his brother Michael trained smart greyhounds like Grovebrook Boy and Grovebrook King, who won 33 races on TAB tracks, including WP, between 2011 and 2014.
Nathan Doggett attended Wenty on Wednesday with his great mate Peter Barnes, whose greyhound My Mate Fox was expected to win.
Unfortunately My Mate Fox was badly checked at the first turn and finished third, later needing 10 stitches in a foot injury sustained during the race.
