Karina Britton could hardly have imagined a better 35th birthday than the one she had at Wentworth Park on Saturday night when her fantastic sprinter Wow gave the Appin-based trainer her first Group 1 winner.
Wow, who had previously won the Goulburn Cup and Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup for Britton, smashed the race record in his two lengths' win over Winlock On Top and early leader Zulu Warlord in the Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder.
The remarkably consistent Wow, who has now won 16 of 25 starts, covered the 520m in 29.49s, figures which were .07s inside the race record set by the Robert Britton-trained Iona Seven in 2014.
Back in 2005 Karina had been the "strapper'' for the Ken Wright-trained Eiffella when that dog took out the group 1 National Derby while she was also the handler of Edie Beauchamp, when that greyhound snared the Golden Easter Egg for the same trainer at Wentworth Park 12 months later.
“I keep doubting him and he keeps proving me wrong,” Britton said of Wow. “He’s an awesome dog and I’m just lucky to have him.
“I am never confident. I think in every race I’ve gone into I have always said to people I don’t think he can win, and he comes out and wins. I was a bit worried that if he did miss it tonight what would happen going through that first turn, but he jumped ok, and got into a good position.”
Asked about her birthday present, she said: “This would have to be the best present ever.”
Luke Adams, who has held a public trainer's licence for just six months, described the evening as “the best night of his life” when he landed both Saturday night's group 1 age classics, the Ladbrokes National Futurity and Ladbrokes National Derby, with litter sister and brother ZIPPING Sapporo and ZIPPING Moose.
Adams' double is almost certainly the first time the Futurity and Derby have been taken out by members of the same litter, with ZIPPING Sapporo and ZIPPING Moose whelped two years ago by Marty Hallinan's bitch Crafty Lady to Aston Dee Bee.
ZIPPING Sapporo had jumped brilliantly to win her Futurity heat on January 15 but began midfield on Saturday night before securing a perfect rails run at the first turn.
ZIPPING Sapporo took advantage a big gap created when Super Estrella, who was in second position on the bend, ran wide, giving Adams' greyhound a clear shot at the pacemaker Me Me Mia.
After Me Me Mia finished second, with kennelmate Super Estrella third, trainer David Smith said: "My bitches were boxed upside down, I wanted Ice Cream Story who had eight in the Futurity in box one in the final and Super Estrella out in eight.
ZIPPING Moose needed no such luck at the first turn as he came out "under the lids'' to lead throughout in the National Derby, clocking 29.72s after winning his heat last week in 29.71s.
After the two wins Adams revealed he had been almost physically ill with nerves during the lead-up to Saturday night's racing.
"I was told I was white as a ghost when a friend visited my kennels during the day on Saturday, and I was still a nervous wreck until ZIPPING Sapporo's race,'' Adams said.
"Once she won the monkey was off my back and I was a lot more relaxed when I took ZIPPING Moose to the boxes for the Derby.''
Stanley Road gave his supporters plenty of concern before taking out Saturday night's group 2 Summer Distance Plate from the fast finishing ZIPPING Truvy and tearaway pacemaker Run Like Jess.
Stanley Road was backed on TAB Fixed Odds from $4 to $2 but almost threw the race away by finding trouble early.
"He was perfectly drawn in box one but he didn't use the box at all,'' trainer Mark Gatt said after the race.
"After my dog jumped Trouble In Mill, who had box three, really gave it to Stanley Road and he was back in fifth place with just under a lap to go.
"When he took off on the back straight I thought he was going to win for sure but then he ran into the back of Prim And Proper, who was starting to tire.
"Fortunately Prim And Proper moved off the fence enough for Stanley Road to grab the rails run coming to the home turn and was able to run down the leader and then hang on to win.''
Michael Eberand, who trained Barking Bad to win the 2017 The Collerson, since 2006 traditionally the Paws Of Thunder consolation final, landed this year's race with Ebby Infrared.
