Western districts breeders Fiona and Marty Hallinan have enjoyed more success in the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Maiden than any other owners and they will be well represented in Thursday night's Heats at Wentworth Park.
The Hallinans have six 23-month-old siblings by ZIPPING Garth from ZIPPING Pepper contesting the series, and all are trained by Minnie Finn.
Fiona and Marty Hallinan took out the inaugural 2020 Million Dollar Chase Maiden with the Luke Adams-trained ZIPPING Moose (pictured above), who went on to win the Group 1 National Derby less than 12 months later.
ZIPPING Moose's litter sister and kennelmate Zipping Niseko gave the Hallinans the quinella when she edged out Aussie Swiper by a head to claim second placing.
Due to covid, no MDC carnival was held in 2021 but the Hallinans landed their second Maiden Final when the Mick Hardman-trained ZIPPING Whiskey was successful in 2022, after the JODIE Lord-trained, Mark Duclos-owned We Don't Share had won an earlier 2022 version.
Last year the Hallinans were to the fore again, this time with the Jason Magri-trained ZIPPING Megatron, who won the MDC Maiden Final in race record time of 29.42.
That gave the Hallinans another quinella, with ZIPPING Megatron winning by five lengths from their Mick Hardman-trained youngster Zipping Bentley.
Biggest stumbling block for the Hallinans this year could be Jungle Johnny, owned and trained by John Maroun, who is considered one of the sport's real battlers.
Jungle Johnny, a son of former champion Jungle Deuce, a winner of five group races including the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder and Gold Bullion, will make his first public appearances from box seven in Heat four.
John Maroun has a big opinion of Jungle Johnny, and rates him potentially far and away the best greyhound he has had in his 26 years in the sport.
"At his first 520m trial Jungle Johnny clocked 29.60 at Wentworth Park,'' Maroun revealed.
"His first split was 5.40 so if he nails the start like he can I believe he is capable of getting down to 29.40 on Thursday night.
"I bought Jungle Johnny and his brother from a mate of mine who bred them from his bitch Springvale Carla, and I educated them both myself.
"Jungle Johnny's brother goes pretty good too but he is a bigger dog and has had a setback that has caused him to miss the Million Dollar Chase Maiden.
"They are only 19 months old so they have a bright future.
"I'm not sure how Jungle Johnny will handle box seven on Thursday but in every trial he has had I have never given him the luxury of an inside box.
"He is accustomed to coming out of middle and outside boxes in trials as I wanted him to get used to them, figuring my dogs in the past have not seemed to draw the rails too often.''
Another exciting newcomer strutting his stuff on Thursday is the Syd Swain-trained Zig Zag Man, who has box two in Heat five of the Ladbrokes MDC Maiden.
Heat three has last year's Million Dollar Chase runner-up Cumbria Kid opposed to Kai Bale and highly-ranked former Victorian Deadly Class, now with top Sydney trainer Mark Gatt.
Agland Luai will be chasing his third straight Wentworth Park win when he exits box two in Heat four against the well-performed Victorian Peacock, now trained here by CHRIS O'Brien.
Showman Jack has won two of his six appearances wearing the pink rug and his best Wentworth Park 520m time of 29.51 is clearly superior to the quickest of any of his rivals on Thursday.
Finals of the Ladbrokes MDC Maiden and GRNSW Masters Meteor will be held at Wentworth Park on Friday, October 18.
