Bandit Butch, who is yet to win at Wentworth Park, is set to be a shock entry in the group 1 Paws Of Thunder heats at headquarters on January 15 following his near record romp at Nowra on Monday.
Bandit Butch, a litter brother to unbeaten Wenty superstar Bandit Ned, has been placed just twice in six WP appearances.
But the dog appears to have found a new lease of life after clocking a fast 29.96 in a stewards' clearance trial at WP early this month and then leading all the way to score by 18 lengths over 520m at Nowra.
At NowraBandit Butch stopped the clock at 29.43, not far outside the course record of 29.28 set by the champion sprinter Wow on July 19.
Owner-trainer Steve Fairbairn, who bought Bandit Butch for a modest $5000 earlier this year, said: "A dog with as much ability as this fellow has comes along once in a lifetime.
"He is quick enough and good enough for a race like the Paws Of Thunder, and I think he performs better against high quality opponents.
"Bandit Butch has had a problem in the past so it was a relief to see him go so well at Nowra.
"He trialled fast before and after the clearance trial at Wenty but even so it was a relief to see him put it all together at Nowra.
"My only reservation now is how he will go at night, because when he won on Monday it was in the early stages of a twilight meeting, so it was still virtually daylight.
''I have nine greyhounds in training but my father Mick Fairbairn, whose dog Brother Knows won the 2006 National Derby in race record time, is the mainstay of our kennel.''
Aston Concorde, who led throughout to take out Monday's 400m Christmas Cup final at Maitland in a sizzling 22.07, will now target the heats of the group 1 National Derby at WP on January 14.
Aston Concorde was part of a winning treble for trainer Darryl Thomas on Monday, with Cut The Line and Ace Quality also winning over the 400m trip in 22.22 and 22.31 respectively.
Each of Thomas' winners was a long odds-on favourite.
"Aston Concorde is the first greyhound I have trained for Ray Borda and he is a dream to have dogs for because I never hear from him, he lets me run my own race,'' Thomas said.
"Aston Concorde has had a couple of trials at WP and is very talented so I think he can give a good account of himself in the Derby heats.''
SA-based Ray Borda ranks alongside NSW's Wheeler family and Marty Hallinan with Queensland's Steve Williams as the nation's most successful owners.
He has won just one race at Wentworth Park and is hardly a household name in greyhound racing but surely there is not a more consistent speedster than the Allan Ivers trained Keeping On.
When Keeping On shrugged off an early check and came from third at the halfway mark to win over 400m at LADBROKES GARDENS last Saturday it was not only his fifth successive victory, but took his record over the past four months to 15 wins from 19 races.
