When 28-year-old Amber Capper's two young greyhounds she purchased from Andy Lord didn’t live up to expectations, the leading trainer kindly replaced them with another puppy and a race bitch named Kiss Me Augie.
And on Saturday night, Kiss Me Augie gave Capper her first Wentworth Park winner when she led all the way to win a 520m fifth grade by four lengths in a tidy 30.03.
Kiss Me Augie had won once previously at Wentworth Park, scoring in 30.19 in May, 2024, when trained by Glen Goodwin.
Capper, who has been training for just four years, has done a remarkable job with Kiss Me Augie as her "giveaway" bitch had also been runner-up at Wentworth Park on July 10 and 24.
Along with her partner Matt and their five-year-old son Huxley, Capper trains, rears and educates a team of 14 dogs on a 10.5ha property at Jerry's Plains, the upper Hunter town made famous in greyhound racing by the late Bill Barnett.
He owned Chariot Charm, winner of the 1965 National Derby, and owned and trained champion sprinter See Yah, winner of the Group One Paws Of Thunder in 1987, from his property at Jerry's Plains.
"I am a qualified hairdresser but I quit that two years ago to concentrate on training greyhounds,'' Capper said.
"And while I have 14 in work, Kiss Me Augie is easily the quickest.''
Also landing their first Wentworth Park winner last week were owners Eden Yates and George Zammit, who won on Thursday night with Get Up Tiger, their first venture in the sport.
Trained by Dana Ivers, Get Up Tiger ran down Betty Emgrand to score a head win in 30.22 in a 520m fifth grade.
A jubilant Yates said: "We bought her at the Richmond Puppy Auction for $5,500 when she was 15 months old.
"George and I have always wanted to be involved in ownership of a greyhound but had just not got around to it until the auction came along.
"We took our wives to that sale and inspected a group of pups, one of which was muzzled and seemed to be bullying all the other youngsters.
"My wife told us to make sure we didn't buy that one but when sale time came along George said he liked the look of the red brindle bitch which now races as Get Up Tiger.
"By then our wives were bored and had gone to have a drink and when we bought the red brindle bitch my wife was horrified to discover that was the pup she told us not to get!
"I named the greyhound after our daughter, Tiger, who is always so reluctant to get out of bed in the morning we are forever singing out "get up Tiger" to her.
"Get Up Tiger might not be good enough but we have already paid the entry fee for her to contest the GRNSW Puppy Auction Classic at Richmond in November.''
