Tayt Corless' dream of becoming a trainer became reality when Covid lockdown restricted his business opportunities and he lost no time having success, landing his first winner with Only You at Bulli on Wednesday.
Only You, a recent $3000 purchase, scored over 340m in the best time of the meeting.
Corless, who owns a safety construction and scaffolding company, said: "Due to lockdown there were several jobs I was unable to do so I suddenly had a lot of spare time.
"While I own several greyhounds, including Wenty winner Fence Lady with trainer Andrew Bell and Tilted Towers with Johnny Chapman, I have long had an itch to have a crack at training some myself as a hobby.
"The lockdown, along with moving onto a roomy property at Berkshire Park, has given me the chance to get more into the sport.
"My father Greg Corless became involved when he started helping out Andrew Bell with his large team of greyhounds and they got on so well it wasn't long before dad was regularly and frequently accompanying Andrew to race meetings.
"That association rubbed off on me and I now have three dogs in work, Only You, Claretown Jimmy and Corless Crazy.''
Racing runs in the Corless pedigree as Tayt's grandfather, the late Des Corless, was for several decades a highly respected harness and thoroughbred racing journalist with the Sydney afternoon newspaper The Sun.
Mackayla Clarke had been counting the days until she turned 18 so she could become a trainer and the teenaged university student won a 330m race at Richmond on August 29 with Wishing, just two weeks after her licence was approved.
She said: "I had bought Wishing from her breeder and previous owner-trainer Kerry Drynan.
"Since I was 16 I have been catching on behalf of my uncle, Ray Thomas, and for Londonderry trainers Jacqui Davis, Chris Carl and Kerry Drynan.
"Because I had helped out Kerry quite a bit she gave me a very generous deal so I could obtain Wishing.
"I am in my first 12 months of a three years Bachelor of Animal Science Pre-Veterinary course at uni.
"My uncle, Ray Thomas, a successful trainer, has been taking me to greyhound meetings for many years and I was always going to take out my own licence when I was old enough.''
A complicated, almost certainly life-saving bowel operation and a long stint on the sidelines preceded Iago Bale's courageous comeback win at Dapto on Thursday.
The Simon Rhodes-trained greyhound led throughout over 297m in a nippy 16.99, after undergoing the bowel operation at the beginning of this year.
"Iago Bale vomited one morning, then when he did it again I thought he might have caught a virus,'' Simon Rhodes said.
"I took him to my vet Linda Corney but she suggested an X-ray which showed the dog must have swallowed a foreign object which had become lodged in his bowel.
"Removing it constituted a major operation but while it was a success I didn't think Iago Bale could race again.
"So I sent him back to his owner-breeder Brendan Wheeler and when the dog recovered he became well enough to run around the paddocks with some puppies.
"Brendan contacted me a few months later and said the dog seemed to be going great and might be worth racing again.
"Iago Bale then came back into my kennels so it was a real thrill to see him win on Thursday.''
