Tony Zammit, who trained Trojan Tears, winner of the first Sydney Cup held on a sand surface at Wentworth Park in 1993, prepares Valpolicella for Sydney accountant and long-time greyhound racing enthusiast Sandro Bechini.
Valpolicella, named after a famous Italian red wine, is by Shima Shine from Bechini's bitch Saldana, who won a dozen races.
Valpolicella goes into Thursday's Albion Park event with 13 wins from 23 races, but she has won her past six races, all at Brisbane's major track.
After winning twice over 600m, Valpolicella stepped up to 710m and has won four on the bounce, starting with a 42.06 effort and then clocking incredibly consistent fast figures of 41.79, 41.78 and 41.77.
Sandro Bechini said: "Ever since I owned my first greyhound the Sydney Cup was the race I most wanted to win.
"Reason for that is I had not attended a big race meeting until I headed to Wentworth Park in 1973 and watched Miss High Lo win the Cup final in race record time.
"She became my favourite greyhound and when I started racing my own dogs I dreamed of one day owning a Sydney Cup winner.
"When I was a kid my father owned a bottle shop and one day a distributor who had gone broke offered to sell him several hundred bottles of Valpolicella wine.
"He was desperate for cash and sold them for a dollar a bottle.
"In those days Valpolicella was selling for about $10 so dad bought the lot and sold them for $4 each, making a nice profit but also keeping his customers very happy.
"After hearing dad relate that yarn I just had to one day name a good greyhound after that wine.''
Bechini secured Valpolicella's dam Saldana through his friendship with Queensland breeder Wayne Thomson, whose mating of his bitch All Fired Up to Knocka Norris resulted in Zinzan Brooke, a winner of 26 from 35 starts including the Shepparton and Healesville Cups.
"Wayne later wanted to mate All Fired Up with a sire which would produce dogs with stamina and I recommended Bekim Bale or his brother Heston Bale,'' Bechini said.
"I had a Heston Bale straw so offered it to Wayne and when All Fired Up had pups to Heston Bale he gave me a pup, which raced as Saldana.
"Her dozen wins included the 731m Bayroad Queen Stayers Cup at Angle Park, Adelaide, when she was having only her second long distance race.''
Last week's Richmond Maiden Final produced a result worthy of Ripley's Believe It Or Not when three litter brothers, all owned by Dennis Donoghue's D & P Syndicate and trained by Minnie Finn, filled the placings.
Not only did Poco Rico run down his brother Both Bowers Ace on the line with their brother Steal A March flashing up to finish third, but the margins were a nose by a nose.
The trio are by Flying Ricciardo from Poco Dorado, the great race bitch owned by Dennis Donoghue and Peter McDermott who won 32 of 79 starts.
The "Richmond three" have big futures, as they were only whelped in February, 2022.
