Racegoers at The Gardens on Friday and those who have watched Tracker's amazing win are just about unanimous in hailing the dog's performance as "the run of the year.''
Tracker, trained by Jason Mackay for 85-year-old Bill Deguara, almost fell when skittled at the first turn and gave the leaders a dozen start at the half-way mark of the 515m event.
But the dog, who took out the group 2 Sires On Ice Black Top at The Gardens last month, seemingly "sprouted wings" in the straight to win by a half length in 29.84, best time of the day.
Tracker's win took his record to 13 wins and 17 placings from 42 starts, with the greyhound paying dividends for the remarkable patient shown by his owner Bill Deguara.
Deguara, who has raced greyhounds for over 50 years, explained that Tracker was a giveaway, obtained from an advertisement on the Greyhound Data website.
"My son David lives in London but follows Australian greyhound racing and noticed Tracker was being offered as a gift to a good home,'' Deguara said.
"David pointed out that Tracker was by Aussie Infrared from Dundee Calypso, so was well bred on both his sire and dam's side, and he advised me to try and obtain him."
Tracker
"I contacted Tracker's Victorian owner and got the dog as an 18 month old unbroken youngster.
"But when I first started working Tracker I realised why he had been a giveaway, he just didn't want to chase properly.
"It took me ages to get him interested in running after the lure but he finally broke through to win a maiden at his fifth start, over 400m at Maitland in June last year.
"But I had no chance of training him because he kept pulling me over when I tried to walk him to the boxes.
"It happened three or four times and got to be so embarrassing that I asked Jason Mackay to take the dog.
"The rest is history because since being with Jason, Tracker has won the group two Black Top, been runner-up to Badger's Beast in the Ladbrokes Grafton Cup, finished third in the Christine Kay Memorial final at Maitland, and reached the semi-finals of the Million Dollar Chase.
"It's a far cry from when I first got him, because Tracker is now the hardest chase you would ever see!''
Deguara, a former president of the Tamworth Greyhound Club, now lives on the NSW central coast and is no stranger to having good fortune with cheap or no cost dogs.
"I bought a dog called Solicitor for $400 and he has won a dozen races while I also raced a prolific winner called Brindle Brother, and was involved with the former Harold Park star Kid Springdale,'' Deguara said.
Tracker's trainer Jason Mackay has no big plans for the dog, but is excited about the prospect of his charge contesting Masters races.
"He will be four years old on November 22 so I think Bill and I are going to have a lot of fun with Tracker in the months to come,'' Mackay said.
