Our greyhounds missed qualifying for the Melbourne Cup final but Cawbourne Magic and Stagger Out Lee are capable of bringing Saturday night's $105,000 first prizemoney from the Sportsbet Bold Trease back to NSW for the first time in over a decade.
In the last 20 years the only NSW-trained greyhounds to win the Bold Trease have been Texas Gold in 2005, followed by Zipping Malfoy, who was in Sydney with Anthony Azzopardi when he took out the 2011 final prior to his trainer relocating to Melbourne.
Stagger Out Lee, trained at Wagga by 24-year-old Jack Strutt, and Cawbourne Magic, from the all-conquering Jodie Lord kennels at Gunning, have undeniable prospects this year.
Stagger Out Lee and Jack Strutt after winning the Wagga Marathon
Stagger Out Lee, who won her heat last week from box eight in 41.78, has drawn ideally in box one, while Cawbourne Magic, who covered the Sandown 715m heat trip from box seven in 41.56, will exit box five on Saturday.
Cawbourne Magic should be capable of improvement as he contested his Bold Trease heat just 48 hours after winning the 600m Dapto Middle Distance Championship.
Stuart Dickinson, who bred Cawbourne Magic and owns the dog, said: "He did well to win his heat because he went into the race cold, he had not previously seen the Sandown track.
"I bred Cawbourne Magic from my bitch Cawbourne Ruby, who was a daughter of Cawbourne Ignite, another of my greyhounds.
"And I had bred Cawbourne Ignite from Sonic Bomb, who was a litter sister to American Spot, the dam of my outstanding sprinter Cawbourne Whip, who was also trained by Jodie Lord.''
Cawbourne Whip won 18 races over distances from 440 to 600m and earned $90,000 between 2013 and 2015, when prizemoney was nowhere near what it is today.
Stuart Dickinson became interested in greyhounds while working for his father Barry's building company at Menangle, on the southern outskirts of Sydney.
"Each day we would watch a fellow exercising his greyhounds past our property and it wasn't long before I got talking to him,'' Dickinson said.
"He was Ken Wright, who had trained Eiffella to win the National Derby at WP a year earlier in 2005.
"Through Ken Wright I finished up buying a 25 per cent share in a greyhound called Meggsie Zulu, whose co-owners included my uncle, current successful trainer Ray Webster, and when she won two races in the city I was hooked on the sport.''
ROOKIE sprinter Moon Fall, who was part of a winning double with Twisted Cuddles at Bulli on Tuesday for south coast trainer Glen Bayo, had to recover from eye surgery before beginning her career.
"I bought her from her breeder Peter Stanford after she had been broken in but then she had an accident and pierced an eyeball,'' Bayo recalled.
"Peter organised for surgery on the eye, which was totally successful, but then Moon Fall came in season which explains why she did not have her first start until November 11.
"I plan to nominate her for Bulli next week and after that would like to step her up in distance and hopefully get her to Wentworth Park.
"Moon Fall shows good early speed in her races which is a bit unusual for this litter as her brother Black Abbott, who has won four from seven races, and All Spritzed Up, a winner of seven out of 10 starts for Anthony Azzopardi in Melbourne, tend to come from behind and finish strongly.''
