It’s somewhere between seven and eight hours depending on traffic and roadworks, but it’s a trip which was going to be an enjoyable one for DEAN and Andrea Baker on Sunday night.
Wunghnu - a town a couple of hours north of Melbourne near Shepparton - is home for the Bakers, but they made the 665 kms trip up the highway to be at Bulli on Sunday evening to watch a dog their son Jordan owns contest the final of the Group 2 Ladbrokes Cyril Rowe Bulli Cup.
The Baker’s dog, Panadero Warrior, won the race in the first 20m when he charged from box eight and raced to a clear lead - clocking a super-fast 9.83s to the first mark, not too far outside the record set seven years ago - before going on to win in 25.94s from locals Zipping Novak and Can’t Handle It.
“We’re from a little town called Wunghnu which is about two and a half hours north of Melbourne.” DEAN explained. “So it's been a bit of a long trip to get here … but it’s well worth it.
“We bought him at three months old and we reared him, and, well, the rest is history.
“We didn’t come up (for the heats) last week, we came up last night and we're driving back tonight and celebrating all the way. It'll be a quick trip home.”
“We've had the dog for about three weeks,” Michelle explained. “We gave him a couple of trials here at Bulli, so he's been educated here for a few weeks.”
She added that it’s pleasing when the plans come off the way they have with Panadero Warrior and the Bulli Cup.
“Yeah it is, and for Paul who entrusted us with the dog, and then all the hard work pays off and really we've just done what we will do with all our dogs, and now he’ll head back to Paul on a flight next week.”
Panadero Warrior becomes the first interstate greyhound to win the Bulli Cup since Victorian Kelly Bravo filled the quinella in the final back in 2015 with Kayda Shae beating Waymore’s Blues.
