When Lakis Michael approached famous western districts breeder Dennis Barnes in 2018 seeking to buy a dog from a litter by Brett Lee from All Too Fancy he was told only a bitch was available.
The bitch, Sweet Nangar had been unplaced in two races in March, but after Barnes assured Michael she would be a worthwhile purchase, he bought her for $8,000.
Sweet Nangar not only won first-up for Michael, a mechanic who was then training greyhounds as a hobby, but she went on to score 21 wins and register 14 placings, earning just on $46,000.
Michael concedes he was fortunate that his purchase was a female as Sweet Nangar has been a marvelous producer, whelping smart winners like Numb, Linkin Girl, Mr Bennington, Coight, Sweet Redemption, and now Jet Linkin, who will contest tonight's first heat of the 365m Nowra Spring Classic.
Jet Linkin, unbeaten in four races at Bulli and Dapto, will exit box six, continuing his sequence of awkward draws.
"His four wins have been from boxes four, five, and six, but he handles an outside draw well because he is happy to go around his opponents,'' Michael said.
"Linkin Park, an American rock group formed in 1996 is my favourite band, so I have named a few of my greyhounds after them."
Jet Linkin
"I gave Jet Linkin his first look at the Nowra track in a 365m trial last Monday and while he only ran 20.90 he should be capable of improvement.
"Nowra has a very quiet lure and I believe dogs need a couple of runs there to work things out.''
Lakis Michael took up training greyhounds in 1988 when the late Roy Heath, famous for winning hundreds of races with many greyhounds bearing the "Kedo's" prefix along with the prolific big race finalist Olympic Thunder, introduced him to the sport.
"Roy was like my second father and taught me everything there is to know about greyhounds,'' Michael recalled.
"I currently have four dogs in work but am increasing my team and by the end of the year will have 10 in my kennels.''
Ruth King, who has three strong chances in tonight's Nowra Spring Classic heats, plumps for Dynamic Gregory as her best hope.
Dynamic Gregory has box two in heat one, and King said: "He has drawn best of my three but Glorified, who has box five in heat two, is the quickest of my entries.
