Buck's Future rewarded thoroughbred owner Robert Jones for his bold venture into greyhound racing with a dazzling all-the-way win in Saturday night's group 1 Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park.
Trained by veteran Syd Swain, who prepared 2003 Golden Easter Egg winner Cyrus The Virus and 2012 National Derby victor Sure As, Buck's Future speared out of his awkward box seven draw to win the 520m event in 29.80sec, holding out a fast-finishing Cash Point to win by three quarters of a length.
Miss Splendamiro was just over six lengths away third, with warm favourite Poke The Bear, who bungled the start and found trouble at the first turn, just behind the placegetters.
Caitlyn Keeping, who had been expected to be the early leader, took a tumble at that point and failed to finish.
Robert Jones decided to buy a greyhound after watching "the dogs'' at his local club in western Sydney, buying Watch The Wasp from breeder David Pringle in mid-2017.
Watch The Wasp was an immediate success for trainer DEAN Swain so 10 months ago Jones bought Buck's Future as a virtually untried 22 months old youngster from the same breeder for a hefty five figure sum.
Buck's Future was the only finalist on Saturday night not to have won his heat, but earned his place in the group 1 event by being fastest runner-up when he recorded 29.58s in chasing home Poke The Bear's 29.55s.
Buck's Future set up a seven lengths' lead in the middle stages in his heat but could not withstand Poke The Bear's powerful finish and went under in a tight contest.
After his dog had exited box three in his heat, trainer Syd Swain was hoping for an inside draw in the final and despaired when Buck's Future came up with box seven.
"I didn't think he could possibly win from out there but my son DEAN, who originally trained this dog, assured me Buck's Future would run in a straight line to the first turn if he jumped fast like he did in his heat,'' Syd said.
Cash Point, the baby of the field at 27 months of age, produced a colossal performance to come from last and finish under a length behind Buck's Future in the final, after giving the winner 10 lengths' start in the middle stages.
Cash Point is eligible for Friday's heats of the Ladbrokes National Derby but owner Robert Cooke said on Saturday night he was unsure whether the dog's Victorian trainer Anthony Azzopardi intended bringing him back to WP for that race.
George Borg, the highly successful caretaker trainer when Miss Splendamiro was NSW's best sprinter last year, returned to that role again on Saturday night, winning the group 2 Summer Distance Plate with Queenslander Double Gee.
Double Gee, the best stayer north of the border, had recorded just a single minor placing in three WP starts before coming from a distant fourth, in a field of five, to run down siblings and kennelmates Blue Moon Rising and Veloce Nero on Saturday night.
"I have been caring for Double Gee for the past 10 days on behalf of his Queensland trainer Selena Zammit,'' Borg said later.
Silver Bullet's only metropolitan success among her eight wins was over 280m at Wentworth Park in July, 2014, but she has made her mark as the dam of the Michelle Sultana-trained Drink Schooners.
Owned by Silver Bullet's owners Greg Briggs, his son Clint, Chris Weekes and Peter Freney, Drink Schooners gave a brilliant front-running exhibition to win Saturday night's listed The Collerson by nearly two lengths in 30.10sec.
Drink Schooners had been most consistent at Wentworth Park, notching five wins, eight seconds and six thirds from 25 starts before registering his biggest success on Saturday night.
The dog was unlucky not to have qualified for the Paws Of Thunder, with a $75,000 purse exactly $60,000 richer than The Collerson, as he was caught on the line and beaten a head by Federal Lilly in his heat of the Group 1 event.
