Removal of troublesome tonsils earlier this year has resurrected the career of Hartley Entry, who clocked a sizzling 26.25s winning over 472m at Bulli on Saturday night.
The Troy Vella-trained dog has now had five wins and six placings from 17 starts, and is set to make his first Wentworth Park appearance within a month.
"At the beginning of the year Hartley Entry was going really well but after winning successive races at Bathurst in February and March, he was choking down,'' Vella said.
"I put him on medication for a while but in the end the only option was to have the operation to get the tonsils taken out.
"Until that and the coronavirus trouble cropped up, I had been planning to set him for a couple of nice races at Wentworth Park.
"He has trialled well there so can handle the track as while his earlier career comprised racing on two turn courses like Bathurst, Hartley Entry has really taken to the big one turn Bulli circuit.
"Hartley Entry can usually get out of the boxes with the leaders but lacks early brilliance so usually has to come from behind in his races.
"While I wouldn't classify him as a wide runner he does like a bit of room to move.''
"He is not the fastest dog I have trained but I have not had a more honest chaser,'' said trainer Owen Lanlgey after Poacher lifted his earnings to nearly $95,000 with his 11th Wentworth Park win on Saturday night.
Poacher trailed Ebby Jet Power from the start until just before the home bend, where he pounced on the lead and looked set for a clear win.
But Michael Eberand's Ebby Jet Power refused to give in and came again at the finish, going under by a nose to Langley's durable sprinter.
"Poacher just loves Wentworth Park and while Richmond has been racing instead of Wenty, it has cost this dog a lot of prizemoney,'' Langley said.
"He is not a Richmond dog and Wenty has always been his pet track.
"I still think of him as a good fourth and fifth grade dog but while he is obviously a lot better than that, he is a notch short of being a group race performer.
"On times Poacher is as quick as Over Flo, with whom I won the 2005 Peter Mosman Classic, Bob Payne Winter Stakes and WAG Petfoods Match Race series, but Wentworth Park is faster these days than it was in Over Flo's time.
"Poacher's best Wentworth Park time is 29.79 and while Over Flo's quickest Wenty figures were 29.83, he ran that time when the track record stood at 29.73.''
TRAINER Merv Buckley compared Brown Sphere favourably with the dog's older full brother Black's A Marble after the he recorded his first Wentworth Park win on Saturday night.
Brown Sphere, a son of Spring Gun and Buckley's former good bitch Cathy's Marble, headed favourite All Star Punk on the back straight to win a 520m fifth grade in a nippy 29.95, taking his record to five wins from 12 starts.
"Brown Sphere does not have the early speed of Black's A Marble but he is equally talented,'' Buckley said.
Black's A Marble won 11 from 21 races in 2015 and 2016 and Buckley now plans to breed a third and final litter from Cathy's Marble.
"She will be mated with Spring Gun for the third time, my girls don't sleep around,'' Buckley quipped.
