Retired public servant Ray Welsh ignores every superstition and bias when buying a puppy and Ideal Dream, who notched her third win in six starts when she scored at Richmond on Sunday, is justification for that contention.
Many trainers prefer not to train bitches because their careers can be interrupted due to seasonal conditions, others dislike blue greyhounds in the belief they are more likely to be erratic chasers, while puppies with under-shot jaws are usually shunned.
"I have always preferred training bitches to dogs and Ideal Dream is not only a female, but she is blue, has an under-shot jaw, and has four white feet, something else some do not like,'' Welsh said.
"Ideal Dream won over 330m in smart time at Richmond but hopefully she will get a longer trip.
"She does everything right and is a good beginner and keen chaser so if she can run 520m she could get to Wentworth Park.
"I don't care who it is, everyone's dream is to win a race at Wentworth Park.
"Best greyhound I have trained was Black Phillip, who was a good Harold Park sprinter in the 1970s.
"More recently True Dream, who won 19 races for me between 2016 and last year, was a top class short course greyhound but she badly wanted an outside box.''
In 14 appearances from box eight True Dream had eight wins and five placings while from box seven she started 10 times for four wins and two placings.
Ray Welsh has not bred from True Dream, saying: "I don't go in for breeding but prefer buying puppies from people I know and respect.
"I bought True Dream from Ron Marsden, who trains Hardaway Titan and Hardaway Harada, while I purchased Ideal Dream from fellow trainer Donna Campbell, who lives around the corner from me.
"I took out my trainer's licence 50 years ago and have always renewed it, despite having to take a few breaks from the sport due to work commitments.
"But I retired six years ago so am now more able to concentrate on training a couple of greyhounds.
"While we had some wonderful times in the so called good old days, I believe things have never been brighter in the greyhound world.
"Years ago it was extremely difficult to get a draw and I can recall having to submit as many as six nominations before I could get a run with a dog at Moss Vale.
"And there could be 50 or 60 qualifying trials, with no prizemoney, before you could gain a start in a fifth grade at Harold Park.''
Fabulous Penny will be given another crack at winning over 520m at Wentworth Park following her near record victory over 365m at Nowra on Monday night.
The Charlie Gatt-trained bitch began brilliantly from box four and easily defeated odds-on favourite Ketakey in 20.48, just .24 outside the course record established just over 11 years ago by Darren Sultana's Hesa Felon.
Fabulous Penny weakened out of a place in three Wentworth Park 520m outings last preparation and has not won beyond 440m at Goulburn.
But Charlie Gatt believes Fabulous Penny is getting to the line better these days and becoming stronger "all the time.''
He said: "Last week when I trialled her at Nowra, which is her favourite track, Fabulous Penny ran home in 12.06 but she finished off in 12.01 on Monday, which is very good.
"She will be nominated for Nowra again next Monday and then I will have a look at getting her back to Wenty because time is on her side, she was only whelped in January, 2018.''
Fabulous Penny now boasts a better than 50 per cent winning strike rate with 15 wins from 29 appearances.
