Moorong Marvel, who gave Hobart Thousand favourite Hotel Whisky One's 440m Goulburn track record a nudge on Friday, will now head to Wagga for Friday's heats of the 525m Bidgee Christmas Cup.
After winning just once in his first 13 starts, Moorong Marvel has now won his past three starts over 440m at Goulburn, trimming his times down from 24.69 and 24.53 before his sizzling 24.26 performance on Friday.
Those figures were just .11sec outside the record set by Anthony Azzopardi's crackerjack Hotel Whisky One on November 1.
Graham Sheather, whose partner Angela Della Bosca trains Moorong Marvel, conceded they were surprised at how quickly their dog had gone on Friday.
"He had not been racing right, continually running into the backs of his rivals at places like Temora, so a few weeks ago we decided to take him back to Goulburn, where he had been virtually broken in,'' Sheather said.
"I had been setting him for the Zoom Top Maiden at Goulburn earlier this year but he had a little injury and had to be spelled.
"Moorong Marvel gives the lie to the theory that females need to be sparingly raced if they are to become good brood bitches.
"Nikolina, the dam of Moorong Marvel, had 104 starts, so as long as bitches are well cared for they can be good producers irrespective of the number of races they have.
"And Moorong Marvel is no one off, as he is from Nikolina's first litter, to Aussie Infrared, and they have all won races
"I have just sold his litter brother Trio Of Clowns, who has won five from nine races, to a client of a leading Sydney trainer.
"Nikolina's second litter, sired by Feral Franky, are three months old.''
Benjamin Mac, who will be chasing his seventh win in 10 starts when he contests Thursday's Palmerbet Christmas Sprint final at Casino, just might be the best greyhound Bob Arnold has trained.
Until now that honour has rested with Maybe Jecee, who won 20 races from 2009 and 2012, and was in Arnold's kennels at Nowra.
"I moved to Casino three years ago and have had a successful 2024,'' Arnold said.
"Benjamin Mac's win in his 411m heat at Casino last Thursday was probably his best performance because he was skittled soon after the start."
"He is a fantastic chaser and while I'm not sure whether he will be able to run 500 metres, he is on the way to being the best I have trained.
"Benjamin Mac is raced by Linda Edgerton, a Victorian owner, and he has always shown ability.
"He was educated by the same Victorian breaker who educated the 2018 Melbourne Cup winner My Redeemer.
"When he handed Benjamin Mac back to his owner, the educator said My Redeemer had broken in running 17.70, which was exceptional, but this pup clocked 17.90.
"Benjamin Mac is bred in the purple because his dam Dolly Mac is a daughter of Brook's Doll, a champion producer and the mother of Ando's Mac, winner of the group one 2016 Melbourne Cup and Vic Peters Classic finals.''
Benjamin Mac clocked 23.44 in his Christmas Sprint heat win, with fastest qualifier George Bourbon, trained by Chris Supple.
George Bourbon was sent out as a $21 outsider after being unplaced at his previous seven starts but he railed underneath the early leaders to hit the front at the half way mark before scoring in 23.21.
"He had been unlucky at his previous start and George Bourbon's problem is he bounces up and down in the boxes before the lids lift,'' Supple said.
"But he drew well last Thursday and found a nice rails run.''
Supple, who has been training for 46 years, is based in northern NSW at Ettrick, once the headquarters of the famous 1960s breeders the Boyd brothers, who raced top notchers like 1969 group one winner Silent Ring, and top class bitches Mac's Gem and Glamareena.
