Dublin Lad will give trainer Barry Howell his first starter in a group race when he lines up at Wentworth Park on Friday night for the $100,000 to the winner Sydney Cup.
Dublin Lad, who was a giveaway from Victoria as a 16 months old unraced youngster, pulled off one of the biggest upsets in years when he won his 720m Cup heat last Friday as an $81 chance, after as much as $101 had been bet.
While there is often an element of luck for many long priced winners, Dublin Lad beat top Victorian and Queensland stayers She Will Bloom and Radar Gunn on their merits, stopping the clock at a smart 42.16s.
The dog was having only his fifth start and had made his long-distance debut over 720m only six nights earlier, on October 5, finishing fifth to boom stayer Just Terms.
"I had been trying to find a long-distance race for Dublin Lad at LADBROKES GARDENS or Gosford but was unable to secure one so nominated him for the open grade event at Wenty a week before the Sydney Cup heats,'' Howell said.
"When I entered him the GRNSW grader warned me it was a top grade race but I didn't care, I just needed to get him over 720m because I had always intended putting him in the Sydney Cup.
"His Cup heat win didn't surprise me because he did just what I have always known he could do.
"Dublin Lad should be able to find a bit on his 42.16s heat time but lack of experience is his main worry.
"He could always run and once, after recording 29.60s in a 515m trial at LADBROKES GARDENS, he ran home in 11.56 which all the local clockers thought was impossible.
"Dublin Lad is a real race dog, when he sees another dog ahead of him he steps up a notch and then, when he gets to the front, he tends to cruise along.
"I had $10 each-way on him at $81 when he won his heat and have backed him at $301 a win and $55 a place for Friday's Cup final.''
Howell, a part-time taxi driver, is 63 but began training greyhounds as a 13-year-old, assisting his father Wally Howell.
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Dublin Lad is not the only "giveaway'' contesting Friday night's group 1 Sydney Cup final.
Boom Down, who came from last in a field of five to win his 720m heat in a smart 42.07s, was bred by Kevin Gordon who gave the dog away as an unraced youngster.
"When Boom Down was educated by Cudal's Dennis Barnes, who breaks in all my greyhounds, his times were dismal so I presented him to another owner as a gift,'' Kevin Gordon said.
"But I still get a terrific thrill out of watching Boom Down race and win, particularly as I bred him and he is a son of my former top notch bitch Lochinvar Vogue.''
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Shakey Jakey, the fastest dog to ever go around Wentworth Park, has succumbed to bone cancer at eight years of age.
When Shakey Jakey won on debut in a 520m maiden race at Wentworth Park on April 6, 2014, he stopped the clock at 29.07, .20sec inside the track record set by Jason Mackay's Punch One Out 13 months earlier.
Trainer Dave Pringle retired Shakey Jakey to stud immediately after his record smashing performance, and at stud he sired greyhounds of the calibre of Watch The Wasp, winner so far of $111,000, Jack Smith's all distance star Midnight Treat (19 wins) and Bathurst 618m record holder Nellie Lost It.
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BILL Mangafas, a member of the NSW GBOTA for 53 years and with a decade long tenure, the longest serving chairman of that association, was in the winner's circle as an owner at Bulli on Monday when WESTERN STAR Lad took out a 400m maiden race.
Trained by Charlie Gatt, WESTERN STAR Lad had been purchased by Mangafas at the Richmond Puppy Auction.
"I also bought WESTERN STAR Lad's sister Princess Zalia at the same sale, and she is a fraction quicker than the dog which won at Bulli,'' Mangafas said.
"Princess Zalia, which I named after my grand-daughter, finished third at her only start but has since torn a pin muscle and is out of action at the moment.''
