King Cratos has held sway over his opponents in each of his six races and it was that dominant character that prompted owner George Marras to buy the Richmond Derby hopeful as a puppy.
The Jason Magri-trained greyhound took his record to six wins from as many starts at Wentworth Park on Saturday night and Marras was not surprised that King Cratos had pushed a rival out of the way when the duo bumped heavily at the first turn.
"That's why I bought him,'' Marras explained.
"A friend from Queensland called to say he had a litter of pups by S H Avatar for sale, asking if I was interested in buying one for $3000.
"I had never heard of S H Avatar because he is an American sire but apparently there is a boom on him.
"I asked my friend to send me a video of the puppies and one black dog stood out for me.
"He kept bossing his siblings around, nipping at them and roughing them up, so I told my friend that was the one I wanted, and that is King Cratos.
"I have had a long connection with greyhounds as my father Tony was a trainer at Yorklea, near Lismore, for many years.''
Tony Marras won 15 races with Yorklea Dancer between 2004 and 2006 and 11 with Yorklea Queen over the same period.
xxxx
JASON Magri, trainer of King Cratos, has a great chance of taking out Saturday night's group 2 Ladbrokes Cyril Rowe Bulli Gold Cup, with his finalist Catch Me Curly drawing box one.
Catch Me Curly had box eight in his heat last Saturday but was keen to find the rails before a strong finishing second, beaten a length, by Victoria's Nervous An Weird.
The southern invader took his record to 16 wins from 24 starts with his all-the-way performance, covering the 472m in 26.33sec, fastest of the three heats.
The other heats were taken out by the Ray Smith-trained Feral Franky, who came from last at box rise to win in 26.43, and by the Anthony Azzopardi-trained Victorian Major Riot, who led most of the way to score in the same time.
Magri was upbeat after Catch Me Curly drew box one, remarking: "He is capable of spearing the lids and leading all the way from that draw.''
xxxx
Tamworth trainer Tony Atkins must have created some sort of record at last Friday and Saturday's Ladbrokes Gardens meetings.
Atkins made the trek to Newcastle with six members of the same litter, Brett Brann, Lucky Brann, Snipper Brann, Barney Brann, Gabby Brann and Dolly Brann.
Nothing too unusual in that except that Atkins' siblings turned five last month, and while only one, Barney Brann, who won over 400m in a slick 22.92sec was successful, the Tamworth owner-trainer-breeder was jubilant.
"I was very proud to be racing six siblings from a litter whelped back in January, 2014,'' Atkins said.
"It just proves that greyhounds can enjoy a lengthy career on the track if they are well looked after.''
For Barney Brann it was his 17th win in 65 starts.
