King Kuru's 30.42 was the slowest 520m time on Wentworth Park's Saturday night card but his owner-trainer Bob Littlefield was excited at the performance and declared it the perfect dress rehearsal for next Sunday's heats of the Ladbrokes Temora Cup.
At Wentworth Park, King Kuru, just 18 months old, took his record to five wins from six starts after grabbing the lead approaching the first turn, dashing away with a big lead, and hanging on to score by a head.
After the race a beaming Littlefield said: "King Kuru had never seen Wentworth Park before tonight but I nominated him because I felt the 520m would give him the ideal conditioning run for the Temora Cup series.
"King Kuru had not been previously tried beyond 450m and while I was confident his brilliant early speed would enable him to set up a big early lead, I believed he would struggle at the end of 520m.
"He did tire in the straight but one of the reasons for that was that he had to use too much gas early, because instead of jumping in front the was he normally does, he missed the start.
"I blame myself for that because as King Kuru had not been trialled at Wenty I took him out of the kennels for the pre-race stir-up, something I don't usually do with him.
"In hindsight it was a mistake because it got King Kuru too worked up and that's what caused him to bomb the start.
"But to show the pace he did, whizzing through the field and hitting the front passing the winning post with a lap to go, has me feeling pretty good about his chances over the 457m of the Temora Cup heats.
"He certainly won't be participating in the pre-race stir-up at Temora though!''
Our top stayer Stanley Road may have been bundled out of the group 1 Fanta Bale Super Stayers over 725m at The Meadows on Saturday night but Sydney has an interest in next Saturday's final.
Beck's Monelli, who is trained at Lara, Victoria, by Rob Camilleri and qualified for the final by finishing second in her heat, is owned by SA's Tim Aloisi and Sydneysider John Clout.
Clout, whose dog Bruce Mick Glenn took out last Saturday's final Wentworth Park event for trainer Peter Sims, was one of two interested buyers when Beck's Monelli's previous owner put the bitch up for sale.
"When I made an offer I was told someone else was also interested in purchasing her,'' Clout said.
"I soon discovered the other would-be buyer was Tim Aloisi, who is an old friend of mine so we bought the Beck's Monelli in partnership and gave her to Rob Camilleri to train.
"Beck's Monelli will be among the outsiders for the Fanta Bale final but she is in with a chance, because she has drawn okay in box eight.
"I wanted one, two or eight with her but win or lose I am thrilled because Beck's Monelli has given me my second group one finalist.
"My Mate Clarrie won a heat of the 2020 National Derby at Wentworth Park for me in 29.96 before finishing sixth, when a $6 chance, in the final won by Oh Mickey.''
When chef Aaron Williams visited owner-breeder Frank Jeffcoat to buy a dog called Hay Pepper, he also went home with that greyhound's litter sister Fergie Pepper, and she gave him a Wentworth Park winner last Wednesday night.
"Frank agreed to sell Hay Pepper to me but explained he was getting on in years and that apart from not being too keen on excessive travelling these days he also preferred the two siblings, who were great pals, should not be separated,'' Williams said.
"As I'm a full-time chef and am a hobby trainer I had only one kennel but Frank persuaded me to take Fergie Pepper so I had to put in another kennel to accommodate her alongside her litter brother.''
Williams, 31, said the hours he worked as a chef dovetailed in nicely with the time needed to maintain his greyhound hobby.
Fergie Pepper posted easily her fastest Wentworth Park time of 30.05 when she led throughout for her three lengths win last Wednesday.
