Royal Emgrand notched his 12th Wentworth Park win on Saturday night but trainer Luke Azzopardi must be contemplating "what might have been" as the dog was sidelined for nine months in 2020.
Having his first start in a Masters’ race on Saturday, Royal Emgrand, who became eligible when he turned four in April, took the lead leaving the back straight to win comfortably in 30.09, not far outside his personal best Wentworth Park figures of 29.84 posted 16 months ago.
"He looked being a really top-notch greyhound as a young dog but after winning four races Royal Emgrand broke a stopper bone and was sidelined for nine months,'' trainer Azzopardi said.
"That was when he was in the prime of his career and while he has since won 11 races there is no telling how good he might have been but for that setback.
"Then in March this year he had another mishap and was out of action for two months.
"But you have to persevere with dogs like Royal Emgrand because they are very hard to replace.''
Rock Burner, who broke through for his first Wentworth Park win after registering three placings at the track, was a lucky acquisition for owner David Taylor and trainer Jenny Brown.
Rock Burner had made the pace when second to the talented Sekora at Wentworth Park on Wednesday night but wasn't headed in his 30.50 win on Saturday.
After the race David Taylor explained: "Jenny wanted to buy a dog and a bitch from a litter by Worm Burner from Bessie Belle in 2019.
"She was only able to buy two bitches but then the dog pup, which had already been sold, came back on the market after the original buyer pulled out.
"That pup was Rock Burner so I alerted Jenny that he was for sale again and offered to go her halves in buying the three months old youngster who was for sale for $2400.
"Jenny has done a fantastic job with this dog, she is an extremely under-rated trainer who works so hard with her team so I am thrilled Rock Burner has won in town for her.
"Actually he is a lot better on one turn tracks like Bulli where he has run 26.29 over 472m than he is on two turn courses like Wentworth Park, where he runs very wide on the home bend.''
Saturday's fastest winners were the Sam Sultana-trained Yuko Girl, who led throughout in 29.70, and the consistent Mellcat Big Boy, who clocked 29.72.
Yuko Girl reeled off sizzling early splits of 5.37and 13.78, accomplishing a 50 per cent winning strike rate of 11 wins from 22 starts, including five from 12 at WP.
Mellcat Big Boy, who had won in 29.74 at WP on May 21 and again a week later, trimmed .02sec off those figures for his fifth consecutive win on Saturday night.
