WHEN Sunlit Conswala was packed up to head from her kennel at San Isidore, near Wagga, to Wentworth Park last Wednesday, three essential travelling companions went with her.
"Wherever she goes she has to be accompanied by her favourite blanket, a pink pillow, and her fluffy toy,'' Peter French, whose wife Julie trains the greyhound said.
Sunlit Conswala stamped herself as a stayer with a real future when she gave the promising Emgrand Rose a half dozen lengths' start in the middle stages before storming home to win by four lengths in 42.59, handy 720m time for a rookie fifth grader.
"I own a butcher shop at Ashmont, near Wagga, so it is difficult for Julie and I to get to Sydney midweek,'' Peter French said.
"So a friend took Sunlit Conswala as far as Tahmoor where my another mate, fellow trainer Shane Pulbrook, collected her and took her to Wenty Park.
"The chap who picked her up from our place was surprised when we insisted Sunlit Conswala have her blanket, pillow and toy with her, but she is unhappy without them.
"She rarely gets trialled, she is just left out in a paddock all day and romps around to her heart's content before being locked away in her kennel at night.
"Sunlit Conswala thrives on being trained this way, when she has been with other trainers and was put on a walking machine she was miserable and didn't respond.
"She loves the car, and if we happen to leave the door open, she jumps up onto the passenger side front seat and won't get out.
"Biggest win we have had in Sydney was when Sunlit Hope won the Bull 'N Barley Cup final in 2009.
"Sunlit Hope could run like the wind but once she got to the front she would wait for her rivals to catch her.
"When she won the Bull 'N Barley, she shot six lengths clear, waited and let two dogs run past her, and then took off again and won by six lengths.
"The stewards at the time warned us that if she did it again she would get a ticket for failing to chase, but I pointed out I couldn't help that and in any case, she had won easily.''
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Beast Unleashed, winner of last year's Sandown Launching Pad and over $230,000 in stakes, is on the way back after suffering two serious setbacks.
The Peter Lagogiane-trained flyer has not raced since January 1 when he won at Gosford, a success that took his record to 10 wins from a mere 15 races.
"After the Gosford race Beast Unleashed tore a hind leg muscle in a trial at The Meadows, and then when I got him right, he ripped the tendons off a pastern,'' Lagogiane said.
"Because he has not raced for more than six months, he has to have a clearance trial before resuming racing.
"But that should be no problem because Beast Unleashed is trialling well over short courses right now and all being well he will target the heats of the group 2 Black Top at LADBROKES GARDENS on August 23.''
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Goulburn conducts six heats of the 440m Ladbrokes Zoom Top Maiden tomorrow (Tuesday) where leading local trainer Andy Lord has seven starters.
Lord's runners are Rodger Bullet (box five, heat one), Low Flying Crow (box one, heat two), El Rapido (box three, heat three), Worth A Shout and Conrod Straight (boxes one and eight respectively, heat four), Iron Eyes (box one, heat five) and Umbrella Man (box four, heat six).
While most of the "form'' entries among the mostly unraced youngsters have won performance trials, two greyhounds beaten in recent trials are better than their efforts look on paper.
The Tim Caines-trained More Than That, who has box four in heat two, was badly hampered before finishing second in a 25.23 performance trial from box five over 440m at Goulburn on July 25.
Charlie Gatt's Fabulous Penny was inconvenienced by a wide runner when a fading second from box three in a 440m Goulburn performance trial on July 16 and she is ideally drawn in box one in heat three.
"I expect Fabulous Penny to make the pace from box one but she will need to get a break on her rivals because at this stage she is not strong at the finish,'' Gatt said.
