Freydis, the great grand-daughter of the mighty WA stayer Miata, was almost retired and kept as a pet a few months before winning Saturday night's $10,000 to the winner GRNSW Masters Final.
Owner-trainer Luke Azzopardi arrived at WP on Saturday hoping Freydis could run second or third as he gave her little chance of toppling hot favourite Zadie Bale, who had drawn box one.
But Freydis bounced in front from box five and hung on tenaciously to win by a length in 29.93, the first time she had broken the 30sec barrier at headquarters.
"You can't beat a front-runner can you?" Luke Azzopardi commented later.
"Freydis broke down at one stage of her career and I was going to keep her for a pet but I used to let her trot around in the paddocks at home because they get bored if they are in their kennels all the time.
"I intended making her a pet but eventually she stopped being lame so I put her back into work.
"She is no world beater, just an honest little bitch, but she picked up $10,000 on Saturday, and had collected two cheques of $1700 for running second and $1100 for finishing third at her previous few starts.
"Prizemoney these days is phenomenal because I have probably the slowest team I have trained in 30 years but in 2024 I won $235,000 with just two litters I bred.
"When Miata, the champion WA stayer had pups to Barcia Bale in November, 2013, a Chinese owner client of mine bought two of her offspring for $30,000 each.
"One of them, a bitch called Rossy Emgrand, never reached the racetrack, but her daughter Mrs Emgrand has been a good producer and is the mother of Freydis.''
As Miata was 2012 Australian Greyhound of the Year and winner of the Association Cup, Bold Trease, WA Galaxy, Sandown Cup, the Zoom Top and National Distance Championship, Freydis, once destined to be a "couch potato", retains value as a prospective brood bitch.
Meanwhile, breeder Vince Murray insists he has "no regrets" about selling Saturday's Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg winner Power And Glory.
Murray bred Power And Glory from his bitch Kwong Magic, who won seven of just 15 starts and retained two dogs, Cunningham, who has won five of 14 races but who he describes an "something of an enigma" and Slightly Magic, who has had a win and four placings from five starts and will be tackling 472m for the first time at Bulli on Tuesday.
"I'm very happy for Power And Glory's trainer Ken Burnett and for his owner Jeff "Tod" Eastburn, because we have been mates for 40 years,'' Murray said.
"You can't keep all the pups you breed and when I was hospitalised with cancer at one stage Tod offered to help my wife with our greyhounds so he is a true friend.''
Ken Burnett paid tribute to rival trainers Harry Sarkis and Andy Lord after Power And Glory's Golden Easter Egg victory.
"When my marriage broke up I was looking for an interest for my three kids and someone suggested I buy a greyhound so they could come and watch the races,'' Burnett recalled.
"I was site manager for Ingham's Chickens at the time so 30 years ago I purchased a dog called Hank Junior, who wasn't much good but really gave me the 'bug'.
"Other trainers were so helpful in those early days, especially Harry Sarkis and Andy Lord, who had Taormina in Saturday's final against Power And Glory.
"From Harry I learned how to feed and worm properly while Andy taught me how to check dogs for injuries.
"Greyhound folk are so helpful, and experienced trainers always seem to be more than willing to help newcomers with free advice.''
