Marty Hallinan, owner-breeder of Saturday night's Ladbrokes 715 winner Zipping Orlando, lavished praise on the skill and ethics of the winner's trainers John and Minnie Finn following the dog's fast finishing nose win over Nangar Rocket in the $500,000 to the winner event.
Hallinan remains somewhat perplexed at Zipping Orlando confounding breeding experts by winning the 715m event as well as recalling when the Finns first approached him looking for dogs to train.
"Zipping Orlando is by my dog Zipping Garth from Zipping Dharma, a bitch I owned but who was trained in Melbourne,'' Hallinan said.
"Zipping Dharma was no better than a good 450m bitch, I'm amazed she has produced a top notch stayer, as her only two wins over 515m were at Sandown in slow times of 30.00 and 30.01.
"And my stud dog Zipping Garth seems to be on the nose with breeders because he hasn't served a bitch for three months.
"All credit to the Finns because about five years ago Minnie telephoned all the people who trained for me asking if it would be okay with them if she approached me to ask if I could give her and John some dogs to train.
"That told me a lot about the character of the Finns and they have done a mighty job with Zipping Orlando because while he broke in exceptionally well, he didn't look like becoming a big race winning stayer.
"Only early indication was when he contested 520m events at Wenty and Minnie told me he didn't want even a sip of water after a race, he was so clean winded.
"After The 715 I phoned Dennis Barnes, owner-trainer of Nangar Rocket who made the pace and was beaten a nose by Zipping Orlando.
"I commiserated with Dennis because I have known him and his family forever and they are wonderful greyhound people.
"I can only imagine how frustrating it must have felt to miss out on a $500,000 first prize by a mere nose, but Dennis was philosophical, saying 'Nangar Rocket had his chance, he got away with a big lead'.''
Hallinan's Zipping Maserati, another son of the suddenly unfashionable Zipping Garth, bounced back to form with a fast 29.69 win over 520m at Wentworth Park on Friday night.
The winner of last year's Brother Fox Dubbo Cup, Zipping Maserati will now head to Dubbo next Saturday night for heats of this year's 516m event.
"I realised he was on the way back to form when I gave him a post-to-post at Wentworth Park recently and he clocked 24.10.'' Hallinan said.
"After that he finished third and fifth in two Grafton races but missed the kick behind the silent lure there.''
The Ladbrokes 715 was held a week too early for Punter HQ Syndicate, the owners of the Andy Lord-trained Tiger Jack.
Tiger Jack found trouble when fourth in a slow 42.39 heat on April 28 before coming out and winning over 715m at Ladbrokes Gardens on Saturday in 41.45, just .05sec outside course record time.
Tiger Jack's figures on Saturday were .22sec faster than Zipping Orlando's time in The 715 and quicker than the fastest heat time of 41.59, posted by minor final placegetter Palawa King.
Andy Lord said: "Tiger Jack had seven months on the sidelines so it has taken a lot of time get him back to long distance racing and he was probably short of a run in The 715m heats.
"I'll now take him to Melbourne for some staying races.''
