Tennessee Tiger will resume from a seven months spell in heat four of the Ladbrokes Graeme Hull Memorial Wagga Cup on Friday but is trialling well enough to win after drawing his favourite box, number eight.
That's the opinion of the dog's owner-trainer John Hartley, who also races Tennessee Tiger's litter brother Shanjo Prince, a winner of 10 Wentworth Park races for leading Sydney trainer Mark Gatt.
Tennessee Tiger, who was formerly in the care of Mark Gatt, injured a stopper bone in October and returned to Hartley's Riverina kennels.
"When I got him right and put him back in work, Tennessee Tiger kept breaking down again,'' Hartley said.
"My veterinary surgeon advised me that only a long spell could enable Tennessee Tiger to return to racing so I put him in a paddock for three months and forgot about him.
"He is standing up well now and while he has not raced this year, he has had a few trials in preparation for the Cup and is going well.
"And he has won five of his seven starts from box eight, the draw he has on Friday.''
Hartley is no stranger to the annual Wagga carnival and disclosed he has qualified with five greyhounds in Cup finals.
"I have finished second on three occasions, most recently with Brady's Wish, who chased home Rod McDonald's Golden Easter Egg winner Dana Beatrice in 2009,'' Hartley said.
Tiggerlong Tonk is engaged in the heats of the Group 1 Harrison Dawson at Sandown tonight so owner Michael Finn is relying on that dog's litter sister Tiggerlong Pink to represent him in heat one of the Wagga Cup.
Finn sent Tiggerlong Tonk to Victorian trainer Correy Grenfell early in the dog's career and he has won 37 of 77 starts, earning a whopping $569,000.
Wagga-based owner-breeder Finn had also sent Tiggerlong Pink south but said: "She didn't settle down well in the big kennel in Victoria.
"But she has been going pretty good so I figured she deserved her chance in the Wagga Cup heats, especially after she ran a smart 30.18 winning over the 525m Cup course recently.''
Tiggerlong Pink has box three in heat one and like John Hartley, Tennessee Tiger's trainer, Finn is an old hand at contesting the Wagga Cup.
"I've had a few placegetters in Cup finals but haven't managed to win one,'' Finn said.
Stent gave hobby trainer Tony Desira his first Wentworth Park winner since Kate's Reaction scored in July, 2014, when he staged a last-to-first performance to score over 720m on Wednesday night.
Desira, manager of a poultry farm, said: "I began training greyhounds in 1978 but have had a couple of breaks from the sport between then and now.
On Wednesday night, after being last to leave the boxes, Stent crossed keenly from box seven to find the rails and after being fourth going through the pen and third on the back straight, hit the front at the top of the straight.
Stent came away to win by two lengths in the fair time of 42.43, but seems certain to be able to improve on those figures when drawn nearer the rails.
Spare a thought for western Sydney trainer Peter Rodgers, who had a 65th birthday he would rather forget on Wednesday.
Simply Smudge, the fastest dog in Rodgers' kennels and a winner of five Wentworth Park races, broke a hock when in a winning position at headquarters and won't race again.
"It was bad enough seeing Simply Smudge's career end that way, but the kicker was it happened on my birthday,'' Rodgers lamented.
