Young Londonderry trainer Clay Mullens has experienced the highs of greyhound racing during his short career, but it took until the end of 2013 to really experience the lows.
Mullens' in-form kennel churned out plenty of winners in 2013 but was brought back to earth when a severe case of kennel cough crippled his racing team.
"It was really a tough time," Mullens admitted.
"Not only did it affect the entire racing team, it took a long time for the dogs to get over it.
"I'm lucky I had another job to fall back on. I own nearly all the dogs here so I went from getting regular winners to having no racing income at all."
However, the tide has turned with Mullens a regular in the winner's list over the past couple of weeks.
His kennel star Fast Archer qualified for the Group 3 Sportingbet Cyril Rowe Gold Plate at Bulli while Rexroth and new kennel addition What A Player won at Dapto and Richmond respectively last week.
What A Player was particularly impressive winning over the 535m journey first-up for Mullens in a slick 30.51.
"I only recently started training him for a syndicate and I can tell you he is a very fast dog," he said.
At Richmond this afternoon Mullens has Camouflage Model engaged in race seven - first-up since December 24 last year - in a 4/5th grade 400m event.
Although better known over the middle distance, she is capable of sprinting well fresh.
Leading Orange owner-breeder Martin Hallinan has three runners in the Group 1 National Derby at Unibet Gardens on Friday night and one runner in the National Futurity, and although Zipping Electra was run out of the Futurity series in the heats, she can gain some consolation by taking out the final event at Richmond.
Zipping Electra looks much better suited to this afternoon's sprint trip.
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