JOHN Heard was a tough South Sydney rugby league player whose greyhounds were equally robust competitors and he has shown his resilience by returning to successful training despite having a leg amputated 17 months ago.
Heard trains Jack High, who clocked a sensational 29.22sec winning a maiden race at LADBROKES GARDENS on December 1 and who scored again at the Newcastle circuit on Saturday night in a nippy 29.77sec.
The promising prospect is now being primed by Heard for a tilt at the Group 1 National Futurity at Wentworth Park next month.
"Since being fitted with a prosthetic limb I have taken up training again and have been fortunate enough to secure three promising youngsters,'' Heard said.
"Jack High is a lawn bowls term and she is owned by Greg Paine and three other keen bowlers.
"I am planning to get her into the National Futurity Preludes next month because she is an exciting prospect, as is her litter brother, the as yet unraced Typhoon Tate.
"Greg Paine was a part-owner of Forty Twenty, who I trained for most of his career and who won 37 of 79 starts and $99,000 in stakes.''
Most recently Heard trained top class stayer Gunnadoo Cove, who won over 720m at Wentworth Park in slick times of 42.09sec, 42.11sec and 42.26sec early last year, just a couple of months before he lost his leg.
Heard bought Jack High and two of her siblings for $15,000 on behalf of clients, purchasing the trio from DAVE Richardson, a former Hunter Valley trainer who now resides in the NSW Northern Rivers region.
"DAVE told me he had a litter available that were produced by his former top class bitch DAVE-sapphire">SanDAVE Sapphire, who won 11 of 32 starts, and because I liked the breeding I made him an offer for three of them and secured the deal,'' Heard said.
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AUSTRALIA's most famous litter has done it again.
Poco Dorado (pictured), Blue Moon Rising and Veloce Nero, the John Finn-trained siblings produced by National Sprint Championship winner Chica Destacada, ran the trifecta in the recent Summer Cup at WP and finished in the same order again in Saturday night's 715m Sires On Ice Keybow Newcastle Cup at LADBROKES GARDENS.
Poco Dorado led throughout from box four and was chased throughout by Blue Moon Rising and Veloce Nero, exactly the same scenario as was the case at WP in the Summer Cup.
On Saturday night Poco Dorado stopped the clock at 41.55sec, a tick outside the 41.54sec track record set by Andrew and Adam Crouch's Big Butters in June.
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Uncontrolled, a younger full brother to former top notchers Mr Shire and Mister Cowora, made an impressive debut at Wentworth Park last Wednesday when leading throughout at Wentworth Park in a slick 30.18sec for the 520m.
And on Saturday night Uncontrolled's litter brother Slick Buddy performed in similar fashion, leading all the way to win a 515m maiden at LADBROKES GARDENS at his first start in a blistering 29.51sec.
Slick Buddy, who is trained by Allen Thomas, a friend of his breeder Bob McColm, had recorded 29.43sec in a performance trial at LADBROKES GARDENS.
The youngster, whelped in March, 2017, would have gone quicker on Saturday night had he not been hampered slightly when veering towards the rails from his box seven draw in the charge to the first turn.
