Feral Franky has scored at least a dozen marvellous victories but surely none has been more tenaciously impressive than his 24th success in Saturday night's fourth heat of the Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park.
Slowly away from box one, Feral Franky collided with Kraken Lightning near the 720m boxes and then got onto the heels of Who Told Stevie halfway along the back straight.
Disputing second place with Who Told Stevie turning for home, "the Feral'' seemed to sprout wings in the final 50m to win by a length from tearaway leader Caishen.
While Feral Franky's time, 29.91s, was slowest of the four Paws Of Thunder heats, it was an astonishing performance.
There is not a better judge at Wentworth Park than Mark Merlino, who has been a bookmaker at the thoroughbreds and greyhounds for 40 years, and he was in awe of Feral Franky after Saturday's win.
"I reckon he lost six lengths during that race and with a clear run, the way he is going now, he could clock 29.30s at Wentworth Park,'' Merlino declared.
Feral Franky will start favourite in Friday night's $75,000 to the winner Group 1 final after drawing box one, with fastest heat winner Oakvale Beauty drawing six.
Oakvale Beauty, trained in Victoria by Jeff Britton, led throughout from box seven to win in 29.64s, with her kennelmate Western Envoy grabbing the lead rounding the first bend to score in 29.81s.
King Cratos completed a remarkable comeback to come from second on the back straight before winning his heat for trainer Jason Magri in 29.85s.
"Last spring I had been getting him ready for the TAB Million Dollar Chase but when he trialled a slow 22.98s over 400m at Maitland on September 12 I knew something had gone wrong,'' Magri said.
"Sure enough the dog had sustained a three inch tear in his hip muscle, and there was a real risk he would never race again.
"But after nearly four months on the sidelines and with gradual work on my property, he has come good.''
Fastest first split was posted by the Anthony Azzopardi-trained Caishen, who clocked 5.39s before being run down by Feral Franky.
Oakvale Beauty recorded the quickest second split of 13.80s while her third sectional time of 17.90s was also best of the heats.
Blue Moon Rising set the time standard in Saturday night's Ladbrokes Summer Distance Plate heats, leading all the way and covering the 720m in 42.19.
Blazing Cartier, owned in NSW by Tom Rees but trained in Victoria by Robert Britton, hit the front on the back straight before holding off local bitch Just Terms in the other heat in 42.25s.
Blue Moon Rising's win was his 33rd in 109 starts, lifting his earnings to just on $459,000 and the dog's usually reticent trainer John Finn could not conceal his admiration for the greyhound.
"He has been racing as well as this for two years now, which is a terrific effort,'' Finn said.
"Blue Moon Rising's form tapered off slightly a little while ago but he has bounced back to his best again.''
Box draw for the Paws Of Thunder is 1 Feral Franky 2 Connie's Boy 3 Western Envoy 4 Start A Riot 5 Buck's Future 6 Oakvale Beauty 7 Caishen 8 King Cratos with reserves Nangar Diva and Cawborne Marty.
Summer Distance Plate draw is 1 Blazing Cartier 2 Just Terms 3 Blue Summer Sky 4 Weblec Eagle 5 True Detective 6 Show Me Confetti 7 Blue Moon Rising 8 China O'Brien and reserves Boom Down and Dreamin' Is Free.
