When Casino trainer Mark Wilkes paid for a service to Fernando Bale for his pal Terry Jordan's bitch Amy Lyndan the result was a "win-win" for both greyhound enthusiasts.
From Amy Lyndan's subsequent litter to Fernando Bale, Jordan, who trains out of Ettrick, near Kyogle, secured Fernando Blaster (Pictured), who has won 13 of 32 races and earned $63,800 in stakes.
Wilkes, a retired senior clerk in local government, received two fully reared puppies as his part of the breeding deal and one of those youngsters, Painted Picture, took out Wednesday night's prestigious Grafton Sprinters Cup.
Fernando Blaster was sent out a $2.80 favourite for this year's Group 1 National Derby at Wentworth Park after qualifying in a blistering 29.61, fastest time of the night.
But while trainer Terry Jordan was hoping for an outside draw in the final, Fernando Blaster came up with box one and, unsuited by the inside trap, finished fourth to Axel Footluce.
In last Wednesday's Grafton Cup Painted Picture, owned and trained by Jordan's mate Mark Wilkes, was in serious early trouble from box five but found the outside of the field on the home turn and "swamped'' his opponents in the straight to win by a neck from favourite Cop A Chevy.
"Painted Picture is a good beginner but does not have the early speed to match it with short course dogs to the first corner, so in reality the 407m of the Grafton Cup is a bit short for him,'' Wilkes said.
"He only just made it into the Cup final on Wednesday, qualifying by a thousandth of the second, so he was the last dog to get through after having no luck when third from box three in his heat.
"Painted Picture has had just 28 starts but has now been in eight finals, and throughout his career has never failed to bring home some prizemoney.''
Wilkes revealed that travelling long distances with Painted Picture presents a problem.
"Because I have had cerebral palsy all my life, I cannot drive for many hours at a time so I can only go to tracks like Albion Park, which is three hours away, when Terry Jordan is available to share the driving.''
Wilkes also trains Painted Picture's litter brother Golden Picture - the other pup he got in the Fernando Bale service deal - and that dog broke in faster than his Grafton Cup winner.
"Golden Picture has had just five races for two wins but has had the first joint on two toes removed so has been restricted accordingly,'' Wilkes said.
"And while he broke in quicker than Painted Picture, Golden Picture has not improved all that much while my Grafton Cup winner has kept getting better and better.''
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LESS than nine months after it was feared he would never race again, Kulu Eagle has taken out the Grafton Stayers' Cup final, feature 610m event at the annual winter carnival on the Northern Rivers circuit.
Trained at Coombell, near Casino, by Brett Hastie for owner John Clarson, Kulu Eagle, at the ripe old age of four, rocketed out of the boxes and led throughout to snare the $5000 first prize in last Wednesday night's feature.
A jubilant Hastie declared: "I love this dog, he has such a wonderful temperament, and for him to come back and win a good race after the injury he suffered is tremendous.
"Kulu Eagle suffered three fracture in the front foot on his off-side when he contested the Grafton heat of the Million Dollar Chase on September 17.
"The injury was so severe it seemed unlikely he would be able to race again, let alone come out and win a major Grafton final.
"Kulu Eagle has not been easy to train as his owner John Clarson asked me to have a crack at the dog after he was issued with a ticket for failing to Chase keenly.
"In his 480m clearance trial at Grafton to allow him to resume racing in May, 2018, Kulu Eagle clocked 27.30, not too far outside the course record, so he could always run.''
Hastie, who currently has 20 greyhounds in work, had his best Wentworth Park results with the Terry Lockhart-owned Heaps Better, who won four races over 520m at headquarters between February, 2004 and October, 2005.
