Kraken Spike completed his transition from "playful puppy'' to a serious race dog with a best time of the night win at Wentworth Park on Saturday.
Trained by Keith Pedrana, the former Victorian led throughout to win a 520m fourth and fifth grade in a personal best 29.78sec, running home in an outstanding 11.63.
After the race Pedrana remarked that while Kraken Spike had two "tickets'' for marring when he first came to NSW, the greyhound was now a totally different performer.
"At the beginning of the year Kraken Spike got a ticket at Richmond and at Gosford, but it wasn't as if he was pulling up.
"He was still a playful puppy, he would do it in the yard at home, he would want to play with the other dogs and he did that in a couple of his early races.
"All that is behind him and while he did win for me at Wentworth Park in June, he is a better greyhound now.
"When he was last in work he was inclined to get off the track but I discovered a minor problem and now that I have corrected that problem, Kraken Spike is railing a lot better, just like he did tonight.
"He has qualified for the Wentworth Park semi-finals of the Million Dollar Chase on October 11 which is why I brought him back to Wenty tonight, and I plan to give him another look at this track before the Chase semis.''
Typhoon To Excel missed qualifying for the Million Dollar Chase semi-finals by only a length but trainer Allen Williams has abandoned plans to qualify for the big event with his dog.
Typhoon To Excel broke 30sec for the first time at Wentworth Park when he won Saturday's opening event in 29.94, scoring his second win in nine starts at the track.
"Typhoon To Excel has taken a while to adapt to Wentworth Park and I expect him to continue to improve,'' Williams said.
"Ironically his sister Zest To Excel, who has not won in four Wenty starts, is quicker, although Typhoon is the stronger of the pair.''
Blue Moon Rising, who has won six 720m races at Wentworth Park, displayed his remarkable versatility once again when he scored his 11th 520m win taking out Saturday's top grade sprint at the track.
After the race Minnie Finn, handling the greyhound for her hospitalised husband, trainer John Finn, said: "Blue Moon Rising uses his head when he races now.
"Early in his career he was inclined to charge along the rails or sweep around the outside without knowing there was room for him to go, but now he waits until the run comes for him.
"He is really racing in a clever fashion.''
Finn won a double with Making A Memory, a certainty beaten on Wednesday night at Wentworth Park, taking out a 520m fifth grade in 30.08.
Zipping Potter, among the leading candidates for next month's $100,000 to the winner Masters Meteor series at Wentworth Park, won Saturday's Masters event by six lengths in 29.92, running home in a sensational 11.59.
But Zipping Potter's win did little to perk up trainer Jason Magri, who lost a potential group race winner when Fire Belly suffered a career ending injury earlier in the night.
Having his first Wentworth Park start, Fire Belly, who had won four from six at the provincials, sped away with a huge early lead in a 520m fifth grade but fractured a stopper bone coming to the home bend and failed to complete the course.
"I had a huge opinion of this dog, he had the makings of a group racer for sure, but a fractured stopper bone is about the worst injury a greyhound can sustain,'' a dejected Magri said later.
