Trainers winning doubles has become commonplace but when a trainer with just two dogs in work wins with both greyhounds at the same meeting, as Shane Scuglia did at Richmond on Sunday, it is indeed an achiEvement.
Scuglia, a hobby trainer, won a 622m race with Our Betty in 36.32 and took out a 520m Event with ForEver Star, who led throughout in 29.74, best time of the meeting.
"My first involvement with greyhounds was when I was 10 years old and I began helping out my uncle with his dogs,'' Scuglia said.
"I took out a trainer's licence in 1999 but by the mid-2000s I was learning a lot about greyhounds through assisting Vic Bartolo with his team. (Bartolo trained 43 winners in 2008).
"In 2010 I had two greyhounds in my kennels and won a double with them, also at a Richmond meeting, but then I took a break of 10 years from the sport in order to establish my own business, Westside Glass.
"Our Betty was a gift to me from the original owner of ForEver Star, who is a half-sister to the dual Bulli Gold Cup winner Pindari Express and to Ando's Mac, winner of the 2016 Melbourne Cup and Vic Peters Classic.
"When ForEver Star did not show a great deal of promise at the beginning of her career, she was advertised for sale for $5000.
"I contacted her owner to buy her but then, because she was so well bred and was valuable from a future broodbitch perspective, he received offers of a lot more money.
"He got back to me but when I explained $5000 was all I could afford he let me have her for that price, mainly because I had been the first to show interest in her and because I had won a couple of races with Our Betty.
"ForEver Star won four of her first eight starts but then was sidelined for 12 months with toe problems.
"She turned four in December so is eligible for Masters races now but is going better than Ever.''
A winning treble on New Year's Eve gave Kempsey trainers Leanne and Nathan Goodwin 101 winners for the year, a remarkable statistic considering they had just 598 starters in 2022 _ close to a 17 per cent winning strike rate.
Nathan Goodwin, who took out a trainer's licence 27 years ago, said: "Last year was easily our best and things are looking okay for 2023 too.
"On New Year's Eve Leanne and I won with Rothwell Chunk at Wauchope before winning a double that night at LADBROKES GARDENS with Gold FEver and Mr Aloysius.
"We are about to unleash some promising prospects for Masters races, notably Zipping Moose, who set a new race record when he won the 2021 National Derby at Wentworth Park for trainer Luke Adams.
"The dog has been resting at owner Marty Hallinan's property but is back in work and while he hasn't raced since May he is going well.
"Zipping Anthea, another owned by Marty and Fiona Hallinan, hasn't raced for over a year but has won 10 from 34 races and is back in work with us and going along nicely.
"And Angry Blizzard, with whom we won the $100,000 to the winner Masters Meteor at Wentworth Park on May 7, is on the comeback trail but because he is returning after dropping a back leg muscle he is a work in progress.
"We have qualified with Rothwell Chunk and Rothwell Horse for Saturday's Wauchope Cup final and while Horse finished second in his heat, his time of 25.52 for the 457m was bettered only by fastest heat winner Canya Wilder, who clocked 25.42.''
Saturday's $10,000 to the winner Wauchope Cup has attracted a group class lineup, including Lismore Cup winner Cataclysmic (box three), Casino Cup winner Take Two (box five) and Canya Wilder, runner-up in Gatlin's 2022 group 1 Vic Peters Classic at WP, in box sEven.
Rothwell Chunk and the aptly named Rothwell Horse, a 40kg giant, have drawn boxes two and four respectively.
