Kooringa Lucy and Ritza Coen, who are already qualified for the semi-finals of the TAB Million Dollar Chase, showed they are "on song'' for next month's world's richest race with impressive wins at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
Kooringa Lucy, whose win in the Casino regional final of the Chase on September 10 put her into the October 9 semis, was particularly impressive on Saturday, leading throughout to post a best time of the night 29.87s performance.
The Mitch Northfield-trained bitch made light of her eight hours trek from the Northern Rivers to WP by clocking slick splits of 5.49, 13.83 and 17.93.
Ritza Coen was the only other dog to break 30s on Saturday night, resuming after a brief spell for a strong finishing win in 29.92, running down tearaway leader Lollipop Liz after being second from the pen to the home bend.
Western Sydney greyhound and thoroughbred owner Robert Jones had a day to remember on Saturday, with his racehorse Express Fantasy winning at the Gold Coast before his greyhounds Night Tracker and Midnight Escape were successful at Wentworth Park.
Trained by Sid Swain, litter brothers Night Tracker and Midnight Escape won in 30.11 and 30.39 respectively.
After Night Tracker's win Swain said: "I intend tackling the Million Dollar Chase Preludes at Wentworth Park on October 3 with him, and if he doesn't qualify for the Chase semis in those events I will nominate him for the Young Star Classic heats a week later.
"Night Tracker's win was good tonight, especially as his run home time was an excellent 11.65, vindicating my opinion that he could become a top class middle distance performer.''
Also set to contest the Million Dollar Chase Preludes with an option of going into the Young Star Classic is Dance With Izzy, who took her record to five wins from eight starts with an eye-catching all-the-way win at her Wentworth Park debut.
The Cliff Bell-trained bitch won by four lengths in 30.15 and is being set for the Chase Preludes on October 3 with the safety net of being able to tackle the Young Star heats on October 10 if she is eliminated from the Chase series.
"I was happy with Dance With Izzy's effort tonight because she was having her first run for six weeks,'' Cliff Bell said.
Chris Carl shared training honours with Sid Swain on Saturday, with the Londonderry trainer and former Richmond club secretary-manager winning with litter sisters Oil And Water and Rock Or Bust.
Oil And Water won in 30.21 and Rock Or Bust scored in 30.02.
"Rock Or Bust has always been a bit quicker than her sister but I thought Oil And Water had the better chance of my two runners tonight,'' Carl said.
"I bred them from my brood bitch Wuxi, who was raced by father Dennis and was trained by Luke Azzopardi.''
