Awesome Bender is owned by Sydney greyhound trainer Kristy Sultana. The 3yr-old dog is trained at Balcairn by Dave and Jean Fahey. They also produced Watmough (second), Speed Ticket (fourth) and Rock Cakes (fifth) in the Dunedin Cup.
Dave Fahey said Awesome Bender would head back to Wanganui tomorrow for a $12,000 feature race on Friday.
The 3yr-old won over 755m there last Thursday.
The race will provide a re-match with Swift Fantasy. The score is one all between the pair.
Awesome Bender was sent to the Faheys 18 months ago from Australia after proving difficult to train. He has now won 27 races and $80,000 in stakes from 47 starts.
John Carlyle, the manager of the OGRC and Robyn Herbert, who compiles race records for the club, had a notable double yesterday. They are in the five-person Where Are We syndicate who race Where's Robyn and Where's John Cee. Malcolm Grant, who trains both greyhounds at Lowcliffe, is also in the syndicate along with Doug Herbert, husband of Robyn.
The sister and brother 2yr-olds were bred in Australia.
Where's Robyn has won eight times from 24 starts. Where's John Cee, who staged a big finish over 310m, has eight wins from 27 starts.
Carlyle had success as an owner with the pacer Lord Akoros, winner of 10 races when trained by Roger Soroka.
John Guthrie, the president of the OGRC, had his first win yesterday since shifting to Momona nine months ago. He is the owner and trainer of Morning Watch and Miss Ozark, the first two home in a maiden race.
Guthrie, formerly of Port Chalmers, has raced numerous winners in 15 years as a greyhound owner. He has been training for 10 years. He has installed a 230m straight track at Momona.
Dunedin has been named the venue for the annual meeting of the Greyhound Racing New Zealand on October 8. The annual meeting is usually held in the North Island. The OGRC is proposing a twilight race meeting the previous day.
