Sunburnt Highway will attempt to equal Bessy Boo's record of 34 Wentworth Park wins on Saturday night and if he achieves that goal it could hardly be more fitting as the old warrior will be making his 100th appearance at headquarters.
Last Saturday Sunburnt Highway was once again far and away the veteran of the lineup in the WP Masters Stakes but he ran down Mercator Closer and held on to win by a head in 30.26.
Trainer Judith Richardson said: "If he gets to 35 wins at Wenty I think my husband John and I will retire Sunburnt Highway, or Billy as we call him.
"Only drawback might be that I don't think he will want to retire because he loves going to the track, he enjoys racing so much.
"After last week's race you would not think he had just had a run and the next morning he was ready to go around again.''
Sunburnt Highway is already the most prolific 520m winner at Wentworth Park as Bessy Boo's 34 wins included three over 720m, although Christine and Alan Proctor's dog's career in Masters’ races was cut short due when the rules for veterans' races were changed.
He was virtually prevented from contesting additional Masters events due to complaints from rival trainers.
Meanwhile Sunburnt Highway's litter sister Sunburnt Opal continues to make a name for herself as a brood bitch, with Valor and Going Gets Tough, members of her first litter, sired by Moreira in February, 2020, winning over 365m at Nowra on Monday.
Butterfly Angel and That's My Guy, their siblings, have also won for the Richardsons while Judith and John have a good opinion of the same litter's Miss Free Reign.
Greyhound racing is mourning the death of Bill Turnbull, who passed away on New Year's day, aged 80.
Turnbull, who was based at Mount Warrigal, in the Shoalhaven district, succumbed to pancreatic cancer, after being diagnosed midway through last year.
Darren Core, who headed the syndicate which raced champion stayer Forty Twenty, said: "Bill had great success training dogs like Forty Twenty Two, Albeco Lad, Albeco Star and more recently, Busted Custard.
"Last year he sponsored the William and LUCILLE Turnbull Cup at Nowra and I plan to keep that racing going in Bill's memory.''
When Forty Twenty, the champion John Heard-trained stayer retired after winning 37 races between 2008 and 2011, Core wanted to give the dog a home but was in the process of setting up a greyhound farm and had nowhere to place the dog.
His pal Bill Turnbull cared for the old champion, and in gratitude Core gave him a pup sired by Forty Twenty, which raced as Busted Custard.
"It took four months to break Busted Custard in but he finished up winning 14 races and running 26 placings,'' Turnbull once told me.
Turnbull rated Hot Custard, a Wentworth Park winner who scored 13 victories from 2007 to 2009, as his best greyhound, and enjoyed success with that dog's son Black Custard, winner of 15 races.
Bill Turnbull was a greyhound trainer for 50 years and went full time in the sport after retiring as a wharf labourer in 2003.
Turnbull, whose wife LUCILLE passed away in May, 2021, is survived by their son Stephen and daughter Michelle, along with their partners and grand-children.
