Jason MACKAY, who had trained placegetters in two previous Golden Easter Eggs, broke through for a well deserved first success in Saturday night's $250,000 to the winner Group 1 Ladbrokes final when Zipping Bailey staged an amazing last-to-first victory.
Banner Park, trained by MACKAY, had finished third to the mighty Brett Lee in 2001 while he had two finalists in 2013, the unplaced favourite Punch One Out and the runner-up Sometimes Speedy, who chased home Grigorieva Bale.
Punch One Out had defeated the Andrea Dailly-trained Grigorieva Bale in her semi-final.
It seemed only a matter of time before master trainer MACKAY snared the big race but Zipping Bailey, a $10 outsider, did it the hard way, coming from a conspicuous last approaching the first turn.
Favourite Federal Lilly had jumped brilliantly to set up a clear early lead over Black Forge and Miss Splendamiro, while Zipping Bailey, who exited box six, found the rails and surged along the fence to be disputing fourth spot on the back straight.
When Miss Splendamiro collided with Black Forge approaching the home turn Federal Lilly looked set to win, but Zipping Bailey, third on the home corner, flashed down the outside to win by just over a length in 29.92sec.
Federal Lilly was second with Black Forge almost two lengths back in third position.
After the race MACKAY said: "Zipping Bailey was a good beginner early in her career but she is only little and got knocked about a few times soon after the start.
"I believe she worked out that if she let her rivals get out of her way she could find a clear run.
"But after still finding trouble by trying to go around them she decided it was best if she dropped onto the rails and seek an inside run and that's what she did tonight.''
Zipping Bailey became the first NSW-trained winner since Dana Beatrice in 2009, with Victorian greyhounds taking out the previous nine Easter Egg finals.
Veloce Nero snared her first group race success when she led throughout in Saturday night's $75,000 Group 1 NSW GBOTA Association Cup, scoring by just under a length from Little Digger, with Victoria's Dyna Chancer a neck back in third position.
Veloce Nero, trained by John Finn for the Dee & Pee Syndicate of Dennis Donoghue and Peter McDermott, recorded 41.90sec, while Tornado Tears, who smashed the track record with a 41.38 heat performance, failed to beat one home.
Dyna Chancer, over 34kg, veered left from box seven as the lids lifted, and Tornado Tears (box six) and Blue Moon Rising (five) were inconvenienced.
That left Veloce Nero, a litter sister and kennelmate of Blue Moon Rising and prolific WP 720m winner Poco Dorado, in front on her own, and she held off late challenges from Little Digger and Dyna Chancer.
The Dee & Pee Syndicate dominated Saturday's Group 3 Ladbrokes Magic Maiden final with Timeless Moment, trained by Kerry Drynan, coming from second early to lead for home and win by nearly three lengths.
Timeless Moment relegated the John Finn-trained trio Really Unreal, pacemaker Making A Memory and strong finishing Blue Summer Sky, to second, third and fourth placings.
All four greyhounds were produced by the phenomenal brood bitch Chica Destacada, a National Sprint Championship winner for Drynan's mother Doreen.
Chica Destacada was also raced by the Dee & Pee Syndicate, and her previous litter included Veloce Nero, Blue Moon Rising, Poco Dorado and Queensland Derby winner Two Times Twice, who was also a winner on Saturday night.
Saturday night's 520m time honours were with the Syd Swain-trained Buck's Future, who won the Life Members' Cup in 29.69, while Zipping Falcon, who cracked a shoulder blade in a heat of the group 1 Paws Of Thunder on January 12, bounced back for trainer Jason Magri to win the Ultra Sense final in 29.74.
FORBES trainer Raymond Smith, who was runner-up with Little Digger in the Association Cup, took out the Group 3 New Sensation final with Feral Franky, who ran down Nangar Diva in 29.87.
