When Martin Bowe took Big Boy Wilson as a giveaway the dog was only half broken in but last Saturday he gave his owner-trainer his biggest win in over two decades in the sport when he led all the way to take out the $20,000 to the winner Multicam Robert Smith Memorial at LADBROKES GARDENS.
Big Boy Wilson was a $9 outsider but there was no fluke about his win as he carved out the 515m in a slick 29.67, fastest time of the night.
Bowe is enjoying his best year in greyhound racing as on February 4 his bitch Wilson's Pick had taken out the Ladbrokes Bullet final over 388m at Gosford.
"I put 'Wilson' into the names of most of my dogs because I grew up in Wilson Place, Hamilton South, a block or two from the old Newcastle greyhound track Beaumont Park,'' Bowe explained.
"My father Harold worked behind the bar there on race day and as a kid I became a regular at Beaumont Park.
"Every fortnight they used to stage maiden qualifying trials and there was an unlicensed bookie or two operating on them which is where I started having a bet, usually 20 cents on this or 30 cents on that.
"Many years later, in 2012, I brought home my first greyhound, an unnamed, unraced giveaway I called Big Nose Boy, because he had a large Roman nose.
"He could run a bit up the straight and he gave me my first winner at Appin, where he also ran a couple of placings.
"Until winning the Ladbrokes Bullet with Wilson's Pick my biggest success had been in the 2021 Kempsey Cup with Wilson Place, who later died after being bitten by a black snake.
"Big Boy Wilson is improving all the time and I knew he had ability when he clocked 24.42 for me in a post-to-post at LADBROKES GARDENS, while he was still unraced.
"His problem is he doesn't crouch down in the boxes, he leans back and sometimes kicks the back of the boxes but when they open he launches himself from the boxes.
"Big Boy Wilson will go around at LADBROKES GARDENS again on Saturday in heats of the Sires On Ice 1-3 Wins Stakes and later I will take him back to Wentworth Park.''
Heats of the Richmond Derby will be held on Friday, February 24 but Rodgers is tempted to by-pass that race to concentrate on the March 28 heats of the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park.
After Simply Limelight produced arguably his best performance to come from fourth on the back straight to run down Grim Madara and finished well ahead of luminaries like Showman Jack and Coast Model on Wednesday, Rodgers said: "People keep advising me to step him up in distance.
"But why would I want to do that when he has just won his 13th 520m race at Wenty.
"Simply Limelight has been plagued by bad boxes most of his career but has been in six big race finals and despite not winning one he has still managed to earn nearly $118,000.
"He has been knocked around in a lot of his races but has never looked like 'turning it up' at any stage, which is a credit to this dog's courage and tenacity.''
Simply Limelight winning at Wentworth Park 15.2.23
