Benali's 2018 Million Dollar Chase campaign was derailed when he went under by a length to Poke The Bear in a Wentworth Park "sudden death" semi-final but his half-brother McInerney is poised to avenge that defeat by taking out Saturday night's 2022 final, the second to be run this year.
McInerney is trained in Victoria by Brendan Pursell for retired school teacher Noel Mugavin, who owned Benali, and whose family has raced relatives of Saturday night's top prospect for over five decades.
"McInerney traces back to Val Matese, a bitch we owned in the 1970s, so is related to a host of outstanding greyhounds we have raced,'' Mugavin said.
"My sister Mary, who passed away recently, owned and trained Modern Assassin, who won the 2002 group 1 Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park along with the Perth Cup the same year.
"Kevin, our brother, raced Golden Currency, whose 40 wins from 70 starts included a dead-heat for first with Worth Backing in the 1993 TAB Topgun.''
Other descendants of Val Matese which have been raced by the Mugavin family include Poetic Reward, who won 41 of 80 races and held The Meadows 600m track record, Modern Express, winner of 30 from 60 races, Rich Currency, Modern Gossip, the 1987 Geelong Cup winner, and of course, Born Ali, the mother of Benali and McInerney.
Born Ali, who earned $255,000 prizemoney, was trained for Noel Mugavin by Robbie Britton, who shares training facilities and a property with McInerney's trainer Brendan Pursell.
"Brendan was a successful harness racing driver and trainer in Tasmania before relocating to Victoria to become a greyhound trainer,'' Noel Mugavin said.
"His son Blake Pursell is now training greyhounds in Tasmania and he prepared McInerney there for his Million Dollar Chase campaign.
"McInerney has a good chance on Saturday because while not a brilliant beginner, he possesses a real burst of speed once he hits the ground.''
Brendan Pursell said: "I was hoping for box one or box eight so while McInerney uses a bit of the track, I'll happily take the rails box in a race like this.''
And the name? Noel Mugavin said: "My sons played a lot of Aussie Rules and the late Tony McInerney was the president of the Victorian Amateur Football Association.
"He was a wonderful person and a fine administrator so naturally our greyhound's kennel name is Tony.''
Joe Comito gave up a secure and reasonably lucrative career managing furniture stores like Ikea and Freedom to train greyhounds but hasn't looked back.
Comito's giant killer Hold Me Up continued to fly under the radar of big name dogs when he won his semi-final of the TAB Million Dollar Chase last Saturday and booked his spot in this Saturday's final.
The North Kellyville-based trainer bred Hold Me Up and his litter sister, Funky Girl, a first-up WP winner on September 14, after leasing the successful brood bitch Funky Punk from her owner Jimmy Coyle.
