If fastest qualifier Ayden's Warrior wins Saturday night's Ladbrokes Country Classic at Dubbo it will be a fitting reward for the generous gesture made by his trainers Jodie and Andy Lord to bush breeder Craig Sheridan in 2009.
Jodie and Andy Lord were training a couple of dogs for Craig Sheridan, who had a property at Ballalaba near Queanbeyan, and he told them he was keen to establish a solid breeding line.
Ayden's Warrior after his Country Classic Semi Final Win.
They presented Sheridan with a bitch called Book Of Days, who had won just four of 15 races but was sired by Spiral Nikita, a leading stud dog of the period and a renowned producer of good brood bitches.
"Andy was convinced Book Of Days could launch my breeding line if I bred a litter from her and retained the best female puppy,'' Craig Sheridan said.
"I mated Book Of Days with My Bro Fabio and in September, 2015, she whelped the litter, with the best bitch among her puppies being Book Of Luck.''
Book Of Luck won 10 races and $33,000, with her finest effort arguably being fourth placing to Queensland's Double Gee in the 2019 Summer Distance Plate group final at Wentworth Park.
Book Of Luck has fulfilled Andy Lord's prediction and been an outstanding brood bitch, with her best offspring, Ayden's Warrior, having already won $84,000 and now a little over half a minute away from adding another $100,000 to his earnings.
In last Saturday's Country Classic semi-finals, Ayden's Warrior won by 15 lengths and covered the 605m in 34.45, the fastest time of the night.
Andy Lord said: "He has drawn ideally in box one so if he can hold the rails and lead when they leave the boxes he is going to be awfully hard to beat.
"We trialled Ayden's Warrior at Dubbo before the semi-finals and he clocked around 34.80 so he certainly 'found' plenty in his semi win.
"Ayden's Warrior is owned by Ayden Sheridan, whose father Craig was the bloke I gave Book Of Days to all those years ago.
"It looks like my forecast might be coming true.''
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