Her time may have been a moderate 30.43 but Charlotte Dream's Wentworth Park win on Saturday night felt like a group one success for her owner-trainer-breeder Matthew Baldwin.
Charlotte Dream's all-the-way win gave Baldwin, a traffic controller who has raced greyhounds as a hobby "off and on" for the past 20 years, his first Wentworth Park victory.
It was hard to remove the grin from Baldwin's face after Saturday night's opening race, as he explained: "When she finished fifth at her previous Wentworth Park start on May 3 she was the first starter I had even been fortunate enough to have racing at headquarters.
"Charlotte Dream is by Fernando Bale from Dreamin' Is Free, who won seven Wentworth Park races and was a handy bitch trained John and Minnie Finn.
"Dreamin' Is Free is by Barcia Bale from Chica Destacada so is a half-sister to the Finns' trio of champions Poco Dorado, Blue Moon Rising and Veloce Nero.
"I managed to buy Dreamin' Is Free from her owner Denis Donoghue with a view to breeding some decent dogs and since Charlotte Dream, she has whelped a litter to Feral Franky which are now three months old.''
Neville Brown is a successful trainer who won the 2010 group 1 Peter Mosman Classic with Tuiaki and the 2022 Nowra Puppy Classic with My Mate Kate.
But when he wasn't happy with how his greyhound Lucy The Weapon was going at the beginning of her career he asked veteran trainer Harry Sarkis to "have a crack" with the bitch.
Sarkis, whose roster of group 1 and track record breaking champions includes Tenthill Doll, Black Aztec, Kirsty's Charity and Spoken Joe, obliged and on Saturday night Lucy The Weapon scored her second Wentworth Park 520m win.
"In late April and early May I gave her three 603m races at Gosford to toughen her up and I knew she was back on track when she ran second to Rebel Ethics there on May 5,'' Sarkis said.
"He was favourite for Lucy The Weapon's race at Wenty but I thought she was unlucky not to beat him at Gosford as my bitch got 'jammed up' early.''
Sarkis switched hobbies from drag racing to greyhounds in 1977 and hasn't looked back, with Only Juan, raced by his long-time client Heath Borg, completing a winning Wentworth Park double for him on Saturday night.
Wicked Crystal was just .42sec outside Lue Road's 15-year-old track record when she bolted away with her heat of the Canterbury Bankstown City Cup at Potts Park on Saturday.
Lue Road, trained by Kim Hyde, clocked 29.45 in 2008 but the Peter Ray-trained Wicked Crystal, a dual WP winner, posted 29.87 in her 530m Cup heat.
"I had given Wicked Crystal two nice 440m trials at Potts Park before the heats and can't praise the track highly enough,'' Ray said.
"The grass surface is immaculate and the track is looking better than ever, certainly than when I had last raced there around seven years ago.''
Peter Ray has two runners in next Saturday's $10,000 to the winner final as Wicked Crystal's litter brother Wicked Fury finished third in the other heat, won by the Tiffany O'Regan-trained Bevan Bale in 30.53.
John Grief and Peter Mattress will also each have two finalists, Grief qualifying with Anjo Tornado (second) and From The Area (third) and Mattress getting through with Rivello, an odds-on favourite in Wicked Crystal's heat, and Supreme Identity, who both finished fourth.
