Laura Keeping gave 21-year-old trainer Jay Opetaia his first Group One win when she snatched a last stride victory in race record time in Saturday night's Ladbrokes National Futurity at Wentworth Park.
Laura Keeping began only moderately from box three but railed into second spot on the back straight and after giving tearaway leader Taormina a clear start on the home turn, flashed along the rails to defeat that greyhound by a head.
Her time of 29.66 easily eclipsed the previous race record set by the Victorian star Striker Light, who won the 2017 Futurity final in 29.74.
After the race, Opetaia said: "Laura Keeping made it hard for herself by dwelling at the start but she showed she has a massive heart with that win.''
Shayne Stiff, who races the winner in partnership with his wife Charmaine Roberts, said: "I thought Sooty Keeping, which Charmaine trains, had been our best chance in the final.
"But full marks to young Jay, he has done a fantastic job with Laura Keeping and as he has long had an ambition to become a successful trainer winning this race is a great boost for him.
"Laura Keeping just keeps improving and at 22 months of age she was the baby of the Futurity field.
"If she finds another length or two with maturity she could be anything.''
Fast times were the order of the night with Paw Oswald, trained in Victoria by Mark Delbridge, taking out Saturday's group one Ladbrokes National Derby final in 29.50, second-fastest time in the history of the race.
Victa Damian from SA set the race record of 29.47 in 2023 but Paw Oswald had to come from second early, grabbing the lead from Zipping Kristoff on the back straight, to win running away by three lengths.
The runner-up Jungle Johnny produced an outstanding performance after being sixth at the first turn and a distant third on the back straight.
Paw Oswald is raced by Brendan Wheeler, the son of the late Paul Wheeler, who owned the 2015 Derby winner Fernando Bale.
The Bale suffix has been abandoned by the Wheeler family with their dogs now carrying the Paw prefix, denoting the Christian name initials, Paul Alexander, and the first letter in the surname their late owner-breeder.
Paul Wheeler's widow Jan and sister Lorraine were at Wentworth Park on Saturday night to cheer Paw Oswald to victory.
Late Night News took his record over 720m at Wentworth Park to four wins in five appearances when he easily won Saturday's group two Summer Distance Plate in 41.60.
Those figures were not only a personal best for the Caroline Hughes-trained Late Night News but shaved .04sec off the race record set by Victoria's Mepunga Ruby in 2022.
Hard luck story of the Summer Plate was for the Victorian bitch Canya Amy, who was leading clearly from Late Night News when she broke down going through the catching pen.
There was not a better training achievement on Saturday than the effort by Charlie Gatt to win with Saint Rico, who won a 520m fifth grade in 29.67 after being sidelined for five months.
Gatt explained later: "Saint Rico had a serious virus and when he finally got over that he hurt his hip so tonight he was having his first start since August.
"But he trialled well for me at Nowra and Wentworth Park before tonight's race and he was well positioned in box eight.''
She's That Girl, a 19 month old juvenile, scored her second win in as many starts when she led throughout in Saturday's Maiden Final, covering the 520m in a flying 29.58.
She had won her heat in 29.62 and trainer Peter Lagogiane said: "Because she is so young I had been protecting her but I had to put her in a race sooner or later because she was trialling so brilliantly.
"She's That Girl is raced by Paul Sioukas who bought her as a puppy.
"I sold him a dog a long while ago and he promised me that if he ever got a good one he would give it to me to train and he was true to his word.''
