Jane and John Carruthers, who owned and trained the great Rapid Journey, were set to retire until Angel Glow, who contests Thursday night's GRNSW Middle Distance Series over 600m at Dapto, came along.
They bred Angel Glow from their bonny bitch Being Good, whose 13 wins from 31 starts included success at Wentworth Park.
"When we mated Being Good with Fernando Bale and she whelped the litter which includes Angel Glow we vowed this would be our final greyhound breeding or owning venture,'' John Carruthers said.
"But as Angel Glow has done so well and as she is a female I guess that when she is finished racing our retirement will be postponed because we will probably have to breed from her.
"She has just come back to Sydney after being trained for us in Melbourne by Paul Bartolo.
"Angel Glow had seven wins from 15 starts for Paul but we brought her home because she was getting outgraded in Victoria.''
Angel Glow's Melbourne wins include a pair of very quick Sandown 515m efforts in 29.44 and 29.47 and her strength at the finish of races over that distance suggests she will take beating when she makes her middle distance debut at Dapto.
The Carruthers name may not mean a lot to younger greyhound enthusiasts, but their dog Rapid Journey strung together a remarkable sequence of big race wins in 1998, taking out the National Sprint Championship, Melbourne Cup, Adelaide Cup, Topgun and Golden Easter Egg.
His last-to-first performance to win the National Sprint at Perth's Cannington has become the stuff of legends.
After that race Jane Carruthers said: "How do you come from last and beat a field as good as that and win so well? How can any dog do that?"
"He is back" declared trainer Luke Azzopardi after his dog Royal Emgrand clocked a smart 30.61 winning at Richmond on Wednesday.
Royal Emgrand, a winner of 11 races and a Wentworth Park top grader, had finished down the course in three races since dislocating a toe at Wenty on June 12.
"I didn't really expect him to win against such a strong field at Richmond but I thought that if he didn't run a good race he was probably over the hill as a race proposition,'' Azzopardi said.
"But he likes Richmond and from box two he had a good draw and while I didn't back him, my son Peter had $100 on him at $31.''
Greyhound names can be intriguing but there is nothing mysterious about the tag 'worn' by Tony and Wilma Messina's Wet Socks, who won at Richmond on Wednesday.
"Wilma was in the process of coming up with the sixth naming option for a pup we had by My Redeemer from Lini Danco but couldn't think of one,'' trainer Tony Messina said.
"While she was poring over the naming sheet I came home after walking the dogs and it was bucketing down.
"When I told her I was soaked I happened to say 'look even my socks are wet' so on a whim she filled that in for the last choice name and that's the one the dog was allotted.''
