Masterton trainer holds high hopes for big win

Masterton trainer Owen Marron sees his talented bitch Dinah Washington as a realistic winning chance in the country's richest staying event for greyhounds, the $40,000 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Collar, to be staged by the Auckland Greyhound Racing Club at Manukau tonight.
Marron was "chuffed" at Dinah Washington's effort to run second in the Collar heats on June 2 after checking herself out of a handy position in the middle stages of the testing 779m event.
"She got on the heels of the dog in front of her and lost quite a few lengths," he said."She was fifth on the home bend and ran on strongly to get second?you couldn't help but be pleased with the run."
In Dinah Washington's favour is her record on the Manukau track. Four starts there have produced a win and three minor placings.
Impressive too are her statistics from box three, the trap she has drawn tonight. In five starts from there she has only been out of the money once.
Then there is breeding. Her sire, the Australian-based Token Prince, has had huge success as a producer of stayers both here and across the Tasman and her dam, Veronica Lake, was also a more-than-handy distance performer for Marron and his partner Edith Kern, who are the owners of Dinah Washington as well.
There is one possible chink in the Dinah Washington armour though. As Marron himself admits the winner of 11 of her 32 starts and over $18,000 in stake money, has developed a frustrating habit of looking after herself.
In greyhound racing terms that means she doesn't like to mix it up early in her races, preferring to find clear racing room before putting her best paws forward.
With that in mind Marron does not anticipate her being in the first two or three around the first bend tonight. Rather he is hoping that with the speedy Rubble likely to set a hot pace the gaps will open up and Dinah Washington will find herself within striking distance of the leaders going into the last 300m.
"If she is right on her game she will run on as well as anything else in the race?.it's just a matter of her getting handy enough to fully utilise her stamina," he said.
Marron sees heat winners Kinda Devilish and Thrilling May as two of the main dangers tonight although he has a hankering that Thrilling May's chances could be adversely affected by drawing outside Rubble, who likes to run wide and could therefore force her over extra ground.
And he has also big respect for the well-performed Prince Toshack and the veteran campaigner Shining Comet, who, like Dinah Washington, is likely to be doing her best work at the finish.
"Really it's one of those races where just about any of the eight dogs could win??.we are in there with as good a chance as any of them," he said.
If Dinah Washington does win-or even place- it will continue an enviable record in the Silver Collar for Owen Marron.
He has part-owned one winner in Fairfield, leased out another winner in Morgainne, finished second with Steel Belt and third with Mo Mowlan Asked to compare Dinah Washington with those four greyhounds Marron said she was every bit as strong a stayer as any of them but probably not as reliable. "She's got a few more tricks than the others, you can never be too sure what she will do," he said.