Manila Ghost took her record to four wins and a second from five starts since joining Glen Quirk's kennels and her new trainer is already contemplating a tilt at the Ladbrokes Thunderbolt in June at Grafton with the bitch.
Manila Ghost was part of a training treble for Quirk at Nowra on Monday, joining kennelmates Slider Allan and Rua Mahack in the winner's circle.
Quirk said: "Manila Ghost had won four from six starts for her previous trainer, Trevor Robbinson, but when he unfortunately suffered a stroke, her owners sent her to me.
"The way she is going at the moment, Manila Ghost is going to reach top grade very quickly so while the Thunderbolt is five months away, I have to start looking for suitable races for her."
"I have 25 greyhounds in work at my kennels at Collector, south of Goulburn, and my partner Jill has recently quit her job to help out full-time at our property.
"She is passionate about the GRNSW re-homing scheme, and over the past 12 months, she has found new homes for 35 retired greyhounds, mostly around Canberra, which is only about 40 minutes from our place.
"I have had winning trebles in the past, but none for many, many years before Monday night at Nowra.
"My father Michael was a keen punter, and as a kid I used to tag along with him when he went to Wyong greyhounds every Saturday afternoon.
"Dad wasn't too interested in the dogs, but in those days there were several bookies betting on the Sydney and Melbourne races, and he went there to punt on the horses.
"But I got keen on the greyhounds and 20 years back I began training them.''
The 350m Grafton Thunderbolt was launched in 2022 as the world's richest short-course race, with the 2025 final annexed by the Peter Lagogiane-trained Badger's Beast.
Lagogiane's greyhound romped home by seven lengths, covering the 350m in 19.58 and establishing a race record for the Thunderbolt.
Regional qualifyings races will be held at various centres this year, with semi-finals at Grafton on June 14 and the $40,000 to the winner final six days later.
