Tradie's Mate won his heat of the listed Ultra Sense with an amazing last-to-first performance at Wentworth Park last Saturday night - not bad considering he was a swap for a cow.
Shaun Kirby, who owns and trains at Forest Reefs, near ORANGE, explained: "Tradie's Mate's previous owner-trainer wasn't having much luck with him so I offered him a milking cow in exchange for the dog.
"Tradie's Mate is a slow beginner but because he is a wide runner he was well boxed in eight in his Ultra Sense heat and while he got a long way back early, he is always a chance of winning if he doesn't get held up when he is making his run.
"He has drawn perfectly again in box eight in Saturday's final so if the leaders jam up or do anything wrong, Tradie's Mate will be powering home at the finish.''
Tradie's Mate, aptly named as it turns out, not only snared Kirby last Saturday's $5000 first prizemoney, but was backed in from $34 to $13 before winning in 30.03.
"I missed the $34 but had something on him at $26 so it has been a good night,'' Kirby said of his "swap dog'' who is now chasing a $15,000 winner's purse in Saturday night's final.
When he got up in the last stride to win his Ultra Sense heat by a head, Tradie's Mate produced a similar performance to when he finished third in a semi-final of the TAB Million Dollar Chase at Wentworth Park on October 9.
In that race he again dawdled out of the starting boxes and came from a distant sixth on the back straight to beat all but Awesome Catch and Tennessee Tiger.
Last Saturday Tradie's Mate again bungled the start and this Time had only one opponent behind him at the half-way mark, before snatching a last gasp victory.
Among Tradie's Mate's toughest rivals in Saturday's Ultra Sense final is the Troy McDonald-trained Rose Of Lachlan, who races in a totally opposite fashion to Kirby's greyhound.
Rose Of Lachlan is a "lid pinger'' who wins her races by setting up big early breaks, then being inclined to fade in the home straight.
When she jumped a length in front of the field in her heat from box eight, Rose Of Lachlan held sway over her opponents by around eight lengths on the back straight, and hung on better than previously to score by five lengths in 29.91.
"Racing regularly at Wentworth Park has strengthened her up,'' trainer Troy McDonald said.
Rose Of Lachlan, who has now had two wins and eight placings from 15 Wentworth Park starts, races wide so is well positioned in box seven in the Ultra Sense final.
Fastest heat winner was the John Little-trained Redshift Seven, who led throughout from box eight in 29.84, with Michael Clayton's Bit Flash also wearing the pink rug in his all-the-way win in 29.92.
The big improver in the final is likely to be the Robert Camilleri-trained Victorian Papi Go Fast, who was runner-up in Bit Flash's heat.
"He should be improved because Papi Go Fast had not seen Wentworth Park before the Ultra Sense heats,'' Camilleri's partner Debbie Coleman said.
Victorian trainer Keith Hellmuth has only a small team in work but continued his love affair with NSW when Burn Time finished strongly to win his heat of the group 1 Association Cup at Wentworth Park last Saturday night.
Hellmuth trained Peter Rocket to win the Group 1 Dapto Megastar in 2013 and prepared Start A Riot when she took out the group 1 Peter Mosman Opal at Wentworth Park in 2019.
"I love it how NSW has so many successful owner-trainers,'' Hellmuth said at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
"Back home most of the top dogs are in large kennels with big trainers but here there are so many good greyhounds being trained by their owners.
"My wife Lisa and I own and train our dogs, including Burn Time, and we enjoy coming here to compete against so many other people who race their own dogs.''
