Ray Sims has never prepared a Group race winner but few modern day trainers possess the greyhound knowledge and experience of the 77-year-old Illabo (Wagga) conditioner.
Sims' bitch Bianca Keeping, which he purchased in January for just $1000, won over 320m at Wagga last Friday, posting her fourth success from her past six starts on her local track.
"I gave Bianca Keeping one run at Wentworth Park, over 280m, but she found all the trouble in the world and finished last,'' Sims said.
"But the little girl is going great right now and I'm having a lot of fun with her.''
Sims has been involved with greyhounds since 1958 and while living at Bulli, earned a reputation as being especially skillful at pre-training young dogs to prepare them for their careers on the track.
"Among the greyhounds I pre-trained were Extra Jingle, who was a prolific top grade winner at Wentworth Park in the early 1960s, Daily Tide, who won the 1965 Vic Peters Classic, then held at Harold Park, and True Leader, who Clyde McBurney trained to win the 1978 National Derby at Wenty,'' Sims said.
Ray Sims is the father of Peter Sims, currently enjoying a run of success with greyhounds like Instantaneous and Tom's Desire.
Instantaneous has won three of his past five Wentworth Park starts while Tom's Desire has had three wins and a second from his four most recent Wenty outings, the latest in coming from fourth on the home bend to beat Zipper Shoes, Kiarni Tiger and Bad Neighbour in 30.07 on Saturday night.
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THE older brigade of trainers had a field day at Wagga on Friday with 80-year-old Terry O'Keefe notching win number 35 with Al's Desire, who clocked 18.10 to win a 320m event.
Al's Desire is from a remarkable litter, sired by Spring Gun and whelped by Osti's Grace in February, 2016, which includes Peter Sims' Saturday night Wentworth Park winner Tom's Desire.
The Osti's Grace litter has now won 99 races from 327 racetrack appearances, with Smart Desire having won 20, Tom's Desire 15, Sock's Desire 14, Mary's Desire 10 and Joe's Desire saluting the judge on five occasions.
O'Keefe sold Tom's Desire to the Punters HQ Syndicate as he felt the dog was suited to 520m at Wentworth Park and at 80 he was not up to driving from his home at Cootamundra to Sydney on a regular basis.
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Zipping Garth, unbeaten in five provincial starts before having his career cut short due to injury, will stand at stud at leading trainer Jason Mackay's Sawyers Gully kennels.
Zipping Garth (pictured) will stand for a fee of $1650 and the first bitch booked into him will be owner Marty Hallinan's 2015 Melbourne Cup finalist Zipping Meg.
"He had the potential to be the best greyhound I have trained,'' Mackay said of Zipping Garth.
"In a post-to-post slip, at his second hit-out at LADBROKES GARDENS, Zipping Garth broke the record set by Punch One Out, who had posted her time during the period when was breaking the track records at Richmond and Wentworth Park for me.
"When he was unraced, and still unnamed, Zipping Garth also smashed my dog Ando's Mac's record of 11.29 in a 350m slip at LADBROKES GARDENS, clocking 11.14.
"Ando's Mac had twice clocked 11.30 there but produced the 11.29 figures on the eve of winning the 2016 Group 1 Vic Peters Classic.''
Zipping Garth's flawless record of five starts included near record breaking wins in 30.09 at Richmond and 29.20 at LADBROKES GARDENS.
