TAB Million Dollar Chase winner Good Odds Harada is back with a bang, returning from a brief retirement and coping easily with a change of kennels to give the Bulli 400m record a shake on Saturday night.
Having his first start for nearly two months and making his debut for new trainer Jason Magri, who is deputising for the dog's Million Dollar Chase winning mentor Frank Hurst, Good Odds Harada exploded from box six and led throughout to win a 400m fourth and fifth grade in a blistering 22.20s.
Those figures compared extremely well with the course record set by dual Bulli Gold Cup winner Pindari Express, who rocketed over the 400m trip on the south coast circuit in 21.93s in February last year.
Immediately after Saturday's race trainer Jason Magri said: "Obviously I am rapt in how well Good Odds Harada went.
"He really wanted to race tonight, he was pulling hard going to the boxes, he was just raring to go.
"Good Odds Harada had not raced over 400m at Bulli previously but while I had not trialled him over that course, I understand Frank Hurst had given him a hit-out or two over that trip when he was training the dog.
"I gave him time to settle in to his new surroundings and in the past couple of weeks he has been a real happy dog, tellinge me he was ready to start racing again.''
Ebby Infrared, runner up in the Husqvarna Maitland Gold Cup final on March 27 and minor placegetter in Pindari Express' Bulli Gold Cup final on February 22, took his record to 17 wins from 36 starts in Saturday night's 472m Free-For-All.
Ebby Infrared went into the race as a long odds-on favourite after the scratching of Zipping Sultan, and jumped in front from box two, giving none of his rivals a chance.
The Michael Eberand trained speedster, who at just 26 months of age has a huge future, stopped the clock at a slick 26.27s, not far outside his personal best Bulli 472m time of 26.08s.
"I own Ebby Infrared's sire Aussie Infrared, and when the Taylor family from Queensland, who shared ownership of my top class stayer Ebby Ripper, were looking to buy another greyhound, I contacted Victoria breeder Geoff Collins,'' Eberand said.
"Geoff had bred puppies by Aussie Infrared from his bitch Lonesome Knight and we got Ebby Infrared from that litter for the Taylors and myself.
"Ebby Infrared is going super and his mission is the Golden Easter Egg, which hopefully will get under way as scheduled in June.''
Asked if he had planned on where Ebby Infrared would be racing next, Eberand quipped: "I'd like to find out where Good Odds Harada is heading, because I'll be trying to avoid him!''
While his 26.37s was not quite as quick as Ebby Infrared's time for the 472m, the run of the night at Bulli was unquestionably Nangar Rust's barnstorming performance to run down Unison and Here Comes Joe in the final event.
After beginning midfield, Nangar Rust, a recent acquisition for the Michael Hardman kennel, zoomed along the rails to be third at the first turn.
At that point he clipped a rival's heels and lost around three lengths, so was relegated to a distant third at the half-way mark.
Unison looked all set for an all-the-way win until the last few strides when Nangar Rust catapulted down the outside to snatch victory in a photo finish.
Nangar Rust recently broke the Sandown 515m track record in a trial on the Melbourne metropolitan course, so his rare talent has long been on display.
