Sassy Ms. Minx stunned racegoers and especially her owner-trainer Rhonda Stewart when she flew over a sloshy LADBROKES GARDENS 272m trip in a near record 15.42 on Saturday, on a night when wet weather forced the cancellation of the Wentworth Park and Dubbo race meetings.
Sassy Ms. Minx, bought as a puppy for just $1500 and reared in Stewart's back yard at Paxton, a village near CESSNOCK, lost ground by racing very wide on the home bend but stopped the clock just .29sec outside the record set by short course champion Laurie's Flyer over two years ago.
"It was raining so hard just before Sassy Ms. Minx's race I expected the meeting to be called off and was banking on getting a split of the prizemoney for our race,'' Rhonda Stewart said.
"Then when the race was about to start I was worried Sassy Ms. Minx might not want to run in the rain, because her kennelmate Kimmy Camaro hates the wet weather and had been unplaced earlier in the night.
"But Sassy Ms. Minx won at The Gardens a couple of weeks back when the fog was so dense you could hardly see the dogs, so it seems nothing worries her.
"I have only recently got back into training greyhounds after winning 10 races with Striking Storm 10 years ago and then having a break from the sport.
"Early last year my daughter Storm pestered me into buying Sassy Ms. Minx as a three months old puppy and although she was reared on a house block she always liked to run.
"I used to take her to a local park every second day to give her room to tear around so when it came time to race she knew what it was all about.
"Sassy Ms. Minx's four wins have been over 272m at The Gardens but I am planning to step her up in distance and will trial her at Maitland at the weekend before nominating her for a 400m race there.
"Good judges at The Gardens last Saturday told me Sassy Ms. Minx's run home time suggested she will have no trouble running 400m.
"She spends most of her time in our house and really seems to thrive on all the attention she gets from my daughter Storm and from our 14 grand-children.''
Adam Brandt, owner of Friday night's group 2 Black Top winner French Martini, was captivated by the lure of greyhound racing from the time he could ride a pushbike.
"As a kid growing up in Newcastle I would ride my bike to the old Beaumont Park track every Saturday and used to park it behind the bar,'' Bandt said.
"I had no family involvement in the sport but for some reason I was always fascinated by greyhounds.
"After a few trips to Beaumont Park I begged my mother to let me train a greyhound but she told me I needed to first build a kennel.
"By the time I was 13 I had built the kennel that but of course was far too young to hold a trainer's licence and for several years had the kennel but no dog.''
Bandt's first top notcher was Adam Meway, who won 20 races and finished third to Radley Bale in race record time in the 2011 Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park but with French Martini he has really struck gold.
