Wentworth Park fan favourite Feral Franky notched his second group race victory in three weeks when he took out Saturday night's Group 1 Ladbrokes Vic Peters Classic at headquarters.
The Raymond Smith-trained Feral Franky (pictured) had won the Group 3 Flying Amy Classic at Brisbane's Albion Park on June 20 and overcame a tricky box five draw to edge out the JODIE Lord-prepared Cawborne Marty by a half-length on Saturday night.
Outsider Kid Candle ran the race of his life for trainer Geoff Grimwood, making the pace from box rise until the top of the straight and finishing third, a mere length behind the winner.
The astute Smith by-passed the recent Group 1 Brisbane Cup with Feral Franky, opting instead to save the dog for age races, such as Saturday's Vic Peters Classic.
After the race Smith said: "I don't train Franky any different to all the other dogs in my kennels, but he is simply the perfect greyhound.''
Saturday night's bitches classic, the Group 1 Ladbrokes Peter Mosman Opal, saw Start A Riot, trained in Victoria by Keith Hellmuth, power home to win by nearly two lengths from Nichole Mason's Miley Nismo, who had defeated the Victorian bitch in last week's heats.
Flossing, prepared in Victoria by Jeff Britton, led to the home bend but found Start A Riot and Miley Nismo too strong in the straight.
Start A Riot gave her trainer his second Group 1 success in NSW, as Hellmuth had landed the 2013 Dapto Megastar with his great sprinter Peter Rocket, a winner of $329,000 prizemoney.
While Feral Franky clocked 29.80s for the 520m and Start A Riot went a tick faster at 29.79s, time honours on Saturday were with the Frank Hurst-trained Good Odds Harada, who led throughout from box seven to win the Free-For-All in a scorching 29.57s.
"The dry track tonight suited Good Odds Harada,'' Hurst said.
"Like his kennelmate and litter brother Good Odds Buddy, Good Odds Harada is not suited by water-logged surfaces.
"And box seven was also in his favour tonight because when he had box one and finished third a week ago at Wenty he slipped on the mat as he left the boxes.
"Box one is no advantage at Wentworth Park because good railers, who step left as they jump, exit the start with one foot on the mat and the other front foot on the sand, so they are off balance.''
The Luke Azzopardi-trained Mrs Emgrand took out the 720m Ladbrokes Stayers Challenge in a smart 42.15s while Nikita Keeping surprised Shayne Stiff, whose partner Charmaine Roberts trains the greyhound, by leading throughout in Saturday's 520m Sprinters Challenge.
"I brought Nikita Keeping to Wentworth Park last Tuesday for a box-to-box hit-out she clocked a terrible 5.77s for her first split,'' Stiff said.
"I did not think she could win on that effort yet she came out and recorded a 5.49s first section tonight!''
Azzopardi was concerned Mrs Emgrand might not be fit enough to run a strong 720m on Saturday because he has not been able to secure long-distance draws with his greyhound.
"But in her favour was that she had box eight, and Mrs Emgrand loves an outside draw,'' Azzopardi said.
