FLYING sprinter Harmat took his record to a remarkable 17 wins from 30 starts over the LADBROKES GARDENS 400m trip on Friday night.
The Wendy Brown-trained speedster will make his Gosford debut on Tuesday night over 388m, where he has drawn box one.
Harmat has had only one start beyond 400m, finishing down the course over 515m at LADBROKES GARDENS and Brown said there are no plans to test him again over that longer trip.
"Early on I thought he would run 515m but when he goes over that distance at LADBROKES GARDENS Harmat hits a brick wall when he reaches the 600m boxes,'' Brown said.
"I don't want to knock him around by trying to force him to win longer races because he is such a tremendous chaser, I have not had many keener dogs.
"Harmat looks more like a bitch, he is only a little 28.5 to 29kg dog but has a very compact build.''
Harmat's inability to see out a strong 515m is surprising, given his breeding.
The May 2016 dog was produced by the former top class stayer Lochinvar Vogue, who could not only run a powerful 720m but who took out the group 3 Betfair Wentworth Park Gold Cup over that trip in 2010.
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SHOALHAVEN Greyhound Club, which conducts racing at Nowra's Pine Bowl circuit, is planning a prizemoney splurge from next Monday until the end of the financial year.
In a bid to increase support for his club's race meetings, secretary-manager Glenn Midson has announced a lift in travel subsidies to $60 per entry, irrespective of the number of nominations made by a trainer.
Currently travel subsidies are $60 for the first entry and $30 for each subsequent nomination, but from March 4 a trainer bringing three greyhounds to Nowra will receive $180 on top of any prizemoney won.
"We also plan to conduct heats and finals over 365m and 520m, with $2,000 to winners of the short course events and $2,500 for winners of the longer races coming from TAB C meetings into TAB B fixtures through to June 30,'' Midson said.
"Between now and the end of the financial year Nowra will also stage the Group 3 $25,000 Ladbrokes Puppy Classic series, beginning in April, while on May 20 we will hold the Nowra Ladbrokes Back Yourself Challenge heats over 520m and 722m.
"Qualifiers from those Challenge heats will contest the $20,000 finals at Wentworth Park in June.
"We have been able to make these commitments thanks to Ladbrokes, local sponsors Nowra City Holden and Premium Tyre Service Nowra, along with the club's accumulated profits.''
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SPARE a thought for Condell Park trainer Ron Marsden, whose greyhound Hardaway Harada was unplaced in Saturday night's Group 2 Ladbrokes Cyril Rowe Bulli Gold Cup.
Marsden originally had the Bulli race in mind for Hardaway Harada's litter brothers Hardaway Titan and Cee Jay's Boy. which would have given him a powerful three dog lineup for the 472m event.
A minor setback meant Hardaway Titan would not be ready to get more than 400m by Cup night, while Cee Jay's Boy, a sub-30sec winner on debut at Wentworth Park, suffered a slight injury on the week prior to the Cup heats and had to be withdrawn.
At the time Marsden said that while there was little between Hardaway Harada and Cee Jay's Boy, he felt the latter was stronger at the end of a 472m journey.
When Hardaway Harada drew box seven in Saturday's final Marsden gave the dog little hope, while at the same meeting Hardaway Titan returned to Bulli and won over 400m, taking his record to a remarkably "Winx-like'' 12 wins and a second from 13 starts.
