Victa Damian not only became the first South Australian owned and trained dog to win the Ladbrokes National Derby but posted far and away the quickest time ever recorded in the time-honoured classic with his four lengths romp in Saturday night's group 1 event at Wentworth Park.
Going into the final as fastest heat winner, Victa Damian gave Northern Rivers flyer Starline Express four lengths' start at the half-way mark before tearing away to cover the 520m in 29.47.
The Derby was first held in 1963 and Victa Damian's figures were well inside the previous best of 29.72 established by Zipping Moose in 2021.
At the end of the 520m, Starline Express hung on to second placing a length ahead of outsider Go Bears.
Victa Damian is trained by Lisa and Tony Rasmussen and raced by a syndicate headed by Sue Schadow, whose father Ron bred the winner.
"Victa Damian is my father's first group 1 finalist in 45 years of owning greyhounds,'' an excited Schadow said after the race.
"Dad lives at Victor Harbour, 80km south of Adelaide, which is why all of his greyhounds carry the Victa prefix.''
Reg Gardoll trainer of runner-up Starline Express, who reeled off sensational early splits of 5.33 and 13.73, said later: "The winner was just too good.
"My dog is a bit weak at the end of 520m but maybe he will acquire a bit more stamina with age, after all he is only 22 months old.''
While Schadow was understandably thrilled, the most emotional win of Saturday's three group 1 finals came when Wyndra All Class took out the Ladbrokes National Futurity in 29.86.
Wyndra All Class trailed pacemaker Victa Marli, litter sister and kennelmate of the Derby winner, to the back straight before dashing clear approaching the home bend and then holding out Victoria's Baby Jaycee to score by one-and-a-half lengths.
Wyndra All Class is raced by Sue Barton, who is undergoing a long struggle with brain cancer.
"My husband Brian reared Wyndra All Class and her siblings and he bought her for me when she was a little puppy,'' Barton said later.
"She was my wedding anniversary gift so her kennel name became Annie.''
Daniel Gatt, trainer of Wyndra All Class, said: "What a beautiful result for this lady, it doesn't get much better than that.''
She's A Pearl took her earnings to over $1.6 million with a courageous victory in Saturday night's group 1 Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder.
Having captured the Golden Easter Egg and Million Dollar Chase double in 2022, the JODIE Lord-trained wonder bitch produced arguably her bravest performance to defeat Gatlin and early leader Reflections by two lengths.
She's A Pearl's time of 29.50 was .20 wide off her personal best time but shaved .02sec off the 2022 race record set by Jungle Deuce.
Whereas She's A Pearl had notched most of her previous 18 Wentworth Park wins by exploding from the boxes and establishing an instant break on her rivals, she was beaten for the early lead on Saturday by the Kerry Drynan-trained Reflections.
But after chasing Reflections into the first turn and going through the catching pen, She's A Pearl showed true championship qualities by surging to the front on the back straight before comfortably holding off Gatlin's late challenge.
Wenty fans were hailing a new long-distance star after the Joe Scerri owned and trained Ritza Piper scored her sixth 720m Wentworth Park in eight appearances in Saturday's Ladbrokes Summer Distance Plate.
The JODIE Lord-trained Silver Luck made all the running to the home bend but was outstayed by Ritza Piper in the run home and went down by one-and-a-half lengths, with the Lord-prepared Cawbourne Magic, Australia's top stayer, just over a length away third.
Ron Asquith, the 86-year-old trainer of Scramjet, described her win in Saturday night's listed 520m event The Collerson as one of the highlights of his career.
Asquith's son Graham said: "Dad has trained greyhounds since he was 17 or 18 but he is especially thrilled to win this race.''
Scramjet was off the scene from early October until mid-December but her trainer said: "There was nothing wrong with her, I just felt she needed a break from racing.
"And I believe that rest has enabled her to come back better than ever.''
