She’s A Pearl, Salad Dodger star in Southern Stars heats
The race to the GRNSW Southern Stars Final is heating up with two of the country's best chasers taking out the heats at Temora on Tuesday.
In the first of two heats over 457m, top online bookmakers had Salad Dodger as a heavily backed $1.50 favourite.
The short claim proved to be warranted, with the Anthony Azzopardi-trained chaser serving up a clean jump and strong kick to get out and lead.
He went on to win by 4.75 lengths in a time of 25.62, beating home Landyn Bale ($3.30) and Joe Dirt ($31).
The Whiskey Riot x Winsome Sandy dog now has 22 wins and 16 placings from 52 career starts.
One of those placings came in this year's Temora Cup, where he went down by two lengths to champion chaser She's A Pearl.
Greyhound betting sites had the Anthony Lord-trained bitch as a $1.33 favourite for her GRNSW Southern Stars heat at Temora on Tuesday.
Out of box two, she hit the lead and went on to win by 1.75 lengths, despite challenges from runner-up Royal Nangar ($6) and third-placed Return Mac ($12).
She took the heat win in a time of 25.64, falling just shy of the 25.38 track record she posted in the Temora Cup Final in March.
The GRNSW Southern Stars series is one of the newest races on the Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) calendar.
The inaugural edition was taken out last year by Aston Barak, paying $13, with Gatlin second by 0.75 of a length and Paua Of Buddy rounding out the placings.