Ruth Matic's training trifecta in Thursday's $5525 Ladbrokes Super Maiden final at Nowra provided a timely tonic for her daughter and co-trainer Danielle who watched the race from a hospital bed in Canberra.
Danielle Matic invariably handles her mother's greyhounds on trial and race nights but on June 8 got her hand caught in a log-splitter and underwent over seven hours of microsurgery to save her thumb.
And when Still Shady finished best along the rails to beat kennelmate Rapid Strike by a half-length, with Matic's third finalist Cash And Coins a half-head away, their Victorian owner Paul White was trackside.
Ruth Matic said: "Paul lives in Bendigo and when each of his entries reached the final he made a special trip up to Nowra to watch the race.
"I trained a few dogs for Paul many years ago and he got me to take Still Shady for him late last year.
"After Still Shady joined my kennels he contacted me to say he had some pups by Bernardo from Go Baby Go and inquired if I would be willing to take a couple of them as well.
"They are Rapid Strike and Cash And Coins, and their dam Go Baby Go is a sister to Poppy Jack, who won 33 races and ran 23 placings for me from 2019 to 2023.''
Still Shady has now had two wins and six placings from 11 starts while Rapid Strike and Cash And Coins are still maidens.
Rapid Strike has been runner-up in each of two starts while her litter brother Cash And Coins has been placed in one of two appearances.
Although Cash And Coins has the least impressive record Ruth Matic believes he has the most potential.
"He still gets a bit over-awed when he arrives at the races and is a bit spooky about things going on around him but once he gets used to that I think he is going to be a handy dog,'' Matic said.
Ruth Matic should know as she first burst into prominence, along with her late husband Matt, as the trainer of group one National Derby winner World Park Ned in 1983.
They had landed their first winner four years earlier when China Tulip won at Bathurst.
The niece of the late, great trainer Kevin Johns, Ruth Matic has since trained stars like 2007 National Sprint Championship winner Bit Chili, Len Me Dad, winner of the group two Maitland Gold Cup in 2023, Black Bear Lee, who took out the group three Magic Maiden at Wentworth Park in 2015, group three The Ambrosoli with Catmandoo in 2007, Mountain Of Love, whose 28 wins included a Nowra Puppy Classic and Kedo's Millie, victorious in a South Australian Oaks.
Watta Whisper won 48 of 104 races, while Matic earned second prizemoney with Kedo's Millie behind Bahama Image in the 1997 Golden Easter Egg, with Mountain Of Love chasing Knocka Norris in the 2008 National Sprint Championship and Tap Dance, runner-up to the great Flying Amy in the 1995 National Sprint Championship.
One of Matic's all-time favorites is Hurricane Luke, who broke a stopper bone at his second start but after being sidelined for nine months bounced back to win 21 races and run second in the 2009 Hobart Thousand, Tasmania's biggest race.
More recently Ruth Matic has been in the spotlight through the deeds of Wow, now a successful sire after winning 32 of 58 races for over $466,000 with wins in the group one Temlee, group two Gosford Cup and dual victories in the group three Goulburn Cup.
Ruth and Danielle Matic show no signs of slowing down and have 15 race dogs along with several puppies on their property at Canyonleigh, in the NSW Southern Highlands.
