HISTORY could be repeated at Maitland tomorrow with trainer JODIE Lord in the box seat to land the trifecta in the Future Stars Final - just as she did in 2010.
Eight years ago Lord's greyhound Cawbourne Haze took out the 400m Maitland puppy classic in 22.55, defeating two of her kennelmates.
This year the Gunning trainer has qualified four of the eight finalists after winning heats with Bland Purr in a blistering 22.18sec, Famous Lee (22.40), Athletic Lee (22.42) and Emboss (22.55).
Each has drawn well in the final, with Athletic Lee in box one, Bland Purr suitably positioned in two, Athletic Lee in three and Embossed perfectly placed in box eight.
Although Embossed (pictured) was the slowest of Lord's winning quartet his run was good and he is likely to relish the move from box four in the heats to the extreme outside on in the final.
"They are all good young dogs and while I won't say they will improve greatly as they went too good to do that, each has a little bit of improvement in them,'' Lord said.
"When I jagged the trifecta in 2010 that was the only time I have had Future Stars runners.''
Athletic Lee and Famous Lee are from Lord's former smart race bitch Magic Earner, who won 16 races and was remarkably versatile.
Magic Earner won over 520m at Wentworth Park in 30.28 and over 720m there in 42.15 and 42.17 as well as scoring in Melbourne over 600m at The Meadows in 34.85 and at Sandown in 41.85 for the 715m trip.
Bland Purr, who was hampered before grabbing the lead at the first turn in her Future Stars heat, is raced by her breeder Peter Spiteri.
Bland Purr is a daughter of Spiteri's Group 1 winner, the JODIE Lord-trained Let It Develop, who won 31 races and filled 40 placings from 105 starts, earning $206,000.
Naawy Naawy, the dam of Bland Purr, was a gift from Lord to her long-time owner Spiteri, and in an earlier litter produced handy sprinters Strauss, Jody Lee Kade, Single Tax, Double Tax and My Bro Kade.
When I called Spiteri on Monday morning he was busy acting as "midwife'' to his bitch Amyjo, a sister to his champion sprinter Let It Develop, while she whelped a large litter of puppies to Oaks Road.
"My Future Stars finalist, Bland Purr is named after an old racehorse my next door neighbour used to ride in endurance races over 40 years ago when I was living in the Sydney suburb of Greystanes,'' explained Spiteri.
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RON Marsden is among the many unsung, voluntary heroes of greyhound racing who works relentlessly behind the scenes to help his beloved sport.
The retired truck driver, who currently trains brilliant speedster Hardaway Harada, has organised the staging of Yagoona's Potts Park circuit's biggest race, the Pick-A-Box Maiden, with heats on November 3 and the final on Melbourne Cup day, November 6.
The 320m final will be worth $3000 to the winner, thanks to Marsden's tireless efforts throughout the year of raising funds through selling raffle tickets at Potts Park Saturday afternoon race meetings.
Potts Park was, for many years, home to the Bankstown City Cup, but due to council amalgamations and re-shuffling, that event has been curtailed.
Incidentally, Marsden is setting Hardaway Harada for a major 350m event to be held in conjunction with the up-coming Goulburn Cup meeting.
Hardaway Harada has a wonderful record, having faced the starter six times for five wins and a second.
