Leading trainer Andy Lord believes the huge prizemoney hike, introduced from Monday, will benefit everyone, especially small-time hobby trainers.
"Thanks to the new prizemoney schedule, NSW greyhound racing has never looked brighter and boosting stakes for short course races at regional tracks is a great move,'' Lord said.
"It costs as much to feed a 300m dog as it does a 500m greyhound and now a battler with one or two dogs in his backyard can afford to stay in the sport.''
And that is coming from the boss of a kennel with 25 in training but set to have 50 racers within the next few months.
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WHEN Umatilla lifted his earnings to over $84,000 with his ninth Wentworth Park win last Saturday night, part-owner Ken Peddie pointed out that was a far cry from the disastrous beginning to his greyhound's career.
"At his first start, at Wentworth Park in March, 2017, Umatilla suffered a foot injury so serious that he had to have a toe amputated,'' Peddie said.
"He was off the scene for five months and during that time, possibly because of the foot problem, he lost interest in racing.
"In his first couple of trials when he returned to fitness he did not want to go, he would run for a few metres and then come back to me after I had put him in the starting boxes.
"But trainer Ron Bell nursed him back to health and Umatilla 'switched on' again, winning his comeback race in August, 2017.
"Masters' races like he won on Saturday at Wenty are a wonderful concept because the likes of Umatilla, who turns four next month, can extend their careers through racing against greyhounds their own age.
"Realistically these veterans could not compete consistently against the younger up-and-coming stars, yet at the same time these masters' races are always keenly contested and are invariably attract good betting.''
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BOURBSKI Fever, who took out the 2015 group 1 Bold Trease over 715m at Sandown for NSW owner-breeder Ross Davidson, is making a name for herself in the breeding barn.
Her son Bourbski Bar, a November, 2016 whelping by Barcia Bale, is raced by Davidson and after a successful stint with the Andrea Dailly kennel in Victoria, returned to her owner's Wallerawang kennels in May.
Bourbski Bar was so impressive in racing away with a 520m fifth grade at Wentworth Park on Saturday night that Davidson is considering nominating him for the upcoming National Sprint Championship series, with the NSW heats scheduled for Wenty August 3.
"Andrea Dailly's husband Tom explained that in Melbourne Bourbski Bar kept tearing the pads off his feet, so he sent him back to me,'' Davidson said at Wentworth Park on Saturday.
"I have been working non-stop on his feet since he came home and he trialled well before finishing fourth at his first Wenty start on June 22, then came from third early to win in 30.13 tonight.''
