No South Australian-trained dog has won a Golden Easter Egg but that state has not had a greyhound to compare with Victa Damian, who produced another sensational Wentworth Park performance on Saturday night.
After smashing the race record to win the Ladbrokes National Derby at Wentworth Park in January in 29.47, Victa Damian went even better in Saturday night's second Easter Egg heat, scoring by a dozen lengths and covering the 520m in an astonishing 29.34.
Victa Damian began cleanly from box eight and was soon in front, clocking a moderate 5.54 to the first mark but then reeling off splits of 13.76 and 17.73 before running home in 11.61.
After the race Tony Rasmussen, whose wife Lisa trains Victa Damian said: "This dog is just a machine.
"It doesn't matter what box he gets, he always seems to be able to push across the field and take the lead.''
Victa Damian was one of the "big three" contenders for the Easter Egg, with last year's winner She's A Pearl successful in 29.96, slowest of the 10 heats, and boom Queensland youngster Jay Is Jay bundled out of the series after finishing fifth to $23 outsider Embrace in heat seven.
Embrace, who took out last year's group 1 Peter Mosman Opal at Wentworth Park in 29.88, recorded her personal best Wenty figures of 29.59 in her all-the-way five lengths win.
Jay Is Jay, coming off a track record breaking win over 520m at Albion Park, missed the jump and after colliding repeatedly with Elle Yeah going through the catching pen, was never a chance.
Second fastest qualifier for next Saturday's Easter Egg semi-finals was Len Me Dad, who exploded to the lead from box four and clocked sectional times of 5.44, 13.69 and 17.76 before stopping the clock at 29.47.
Len Me Dad, who took out the $40,000 to the winner East Maitland Bowling Club Cup on March 17, only clinched a start in the Easter Egg with a smart trial at Wentworth Park on Tuesday night.
"Because he had previously been inclined to hit a brick wall 50 metres from the finish at Wentworth Park, I gave him a box-to-box hit-out on Tuesday and he went really well,'' trainer Ruth Matic said.
"There were about 70 trials before him so the track was not good by the time Len Me Dad went around but his trial was second fastest of the night.
"While I expected him to run well in tonight's heat after that trial, I must admit I did not think he could go as fast as 29.47.''
Greyhound racing's under-rated "giant killer" Fascinate Mel again toppled some big names with an all-the-way win in heat 10, recording a flying 29.65, just .02sec outside her fastest Wentworth Park figures.
National Futurity winner Wyndra All Class won her heat for Daniel Gatt in 29.72, Richmond Oaks winner Yuko Girl scored in 29.67 and WA visitor Custard Monelli won a roughly run heat in 29.78.
Veteran Zipping Kyrgios won his heat in 29.85 after having been nominated for the race at the last minute.
Minnie Finn, whose husband John trains Zipping Kyrgios, said: "We were getting him ready for the Masters race on Easter Egg final night but when we found out it was only worth $10,000 to the winner we entered him for the big one.
"We figured if he didn't qualify we could still nominate him for the Masters heats on March 31 but there's no need to do that now.''
The other Easter Egg heat winner was Father Rick, who came from fourth on the home bend to win in 29.84.
