Sound Of Silence virtually became a sprinter by default yet the Flight To The Phoenix semi-finalist has been a revelation over the past month and looks the stand out bet on Wednesday's Wentworth Park card.
The Frank Hurst-trained greyhound has box one in the 520m Free-For-All and is coming off a sensational win in a 472m Bulli heat of the Flight To The Phoenix series on October 26.
In that race Sound Of Silence jumped in front but was outpaced by kennelmate Good Odds Cash before stunning racegoers by over-hauling that outstanding sprinter to win by over two lengths.
Sound Of Silence covered the 472m in 25.97, just .19sec outside track record time, and Good Odds Cash has since proven the form by defeating Topgun candidate Jungle Deuce at WP last Saturday.
"I was nominating Sound Of Silence, who has won over 720m at WP, for middle distance races in late September and early October but could not get a start with him,'' trainer Frank Hurst explained.
"So I kept him in the kennels for three weeks to freshen him up and brought him back as a sprinter,'' Hurst said.
Considering Sound Of Silence won over 729m at Dapto in July and 717m at Richmond in August, Hurst's talent in transforming the dog into a potentially group one sprinter has been remarkable.
Irrational, who has won in fast times over 535m at Richmond and 450m at Maitland in recent weeks, makes his WP debut in Wednesday night's The Phoenix Is Coming Stakes, a 520m fifth grade.
The 23 months old son of former top class stayer and track record holder Big Butters has box one and is trained by Andrew Crouch, who prepared the dog's dam.
Crouch's son Adam said: "Irrational has had one trial at Wenty and he went good.
"He has box one and that is where he wants to be so if he comes out cleanly and holds the lead he should be hard to beat.
"But he is a bit green and still learning and sometimes tends to get over-excited.''
Lagoon Mandy's sole WP win was from box one on October 6 and trainer Ray Webster is pleased to see her wearing the red rug again in Wednesday's second event, a 520m fifth grade.
Webster said: "Lagoon Mandy is no world beater but the draw certainly suits her.
"She clocked 30.34 when she won at Wenty last month and while she can probably shave a couple of tenths off that time, I don't think she is capable of breaking 30 seconds.''
Lagoon Mandy's toughest rival looms as Below Zero, who made the pace when second, from box three, at her first WP appearance last Wednesday.
"That was her first crack at 520m so she should be improved by the run,'' trainer Justin King said.
"I was happy with her performance because she was headed coming to the home turn but kept kicking on nicely and hung on to finish second.''
