LEADING trainers Jodie and Andy Lord gave themselves yet another pair of tickets in what some have called the greyhound racing's version of the lotto, qualifying their fourth and fifth dogs for the Million Dollar Chase semi-finals.
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Coming with a blistering late surge, the Lord-trained Cawborne Footrot arrived just in time to nab the leader Cumbria Dreaming and take out the Nowra regional final of the series in 30.02s.
Cawborne Footrot now joins his kennel mates Awesome Catch and Winlock On Top, who qualified at Dapto, and Ritza Donald who made it to the semis after finishing second in the Goulburn regional final behind Blistering, and the bonus for the Lords came through Nowra's third placegetter Chrome.
Andy revealed he was seriously concerned the dog may have never raced again after injuring itself back in February.
"He did a ligament in his shoulder and I thought he was finished," Andy said.
"He kept limping and every time I tried to bring him back he would limp.
"We turned him out twice and brought him back and he never stopped limping.
"Then the last couple of months before we brought him back again, he just started coming good.
"I changed the way I worked him, and touch wood, he's good now, because he's a good pup.
"This dog can really run time.
"I was getting him ready to get over the distance when he got injured because I think he can be the best stayer in the country.
"But this race came along and you've got to be in it to win it."
The win was Cawborne Footrot's eighth from just 13 starts, and while he won't go into the semi-finals with the spotlight of many of the sprinting stars, Lord has issued a warning to those willing to easily disregard him.
"I have won big finals with 50-1 chances. I won the Chairman's Cup with a 50-1 chance and declared him ... Somersby Faus," he said.
"You've just got to get into the final and once you are, anything can happen.
"Anyway, we've got a couple of live chances now."
The run of the second dog was excellent, especially as his trainer Steve Fitch expected him to be in the race earlier.
Cumbria Dream, the brother of finalists Cumbria Belle and Cumbria Ninno, missed out narrowly on making the final in last week's heats and was drawn as first reserve.
"I was just thinking he was a real good chance in race 5," Fitch said.
"I just checked the scratchings at 9.30am this morning and then just assumed he wasn't getting a run [in the final] and then had a look at 10am, and we're in box 1."
The scratching of Eagle Rock meant Cumbria Dreaming went into the one box and he took full advantage of it, pushing up to be on the back of the leader Where's Ella heading into the back, and then taking over on the turn out of the back, only to be grabbed right on the line in 30.02s.
"I'm still trying to comprehend how he managed to get beaten," Fitch said.
"At least I have got one through.
"I didn't see a real lot.
"I saw Ninno was there up the back and I saw Belle got checked at the start, but its hard to watch three dogs in the one 30s race."
Fitch is now expected to take Cumbria Belle to Wentworth Park for the last round of qualifiers on Saturday and will consider doing likewise with Cumbria Ninno.
The run of the third dog, Chrome, for the Lords, was also full of merit in just his 14th career start.
"Had Chrome not qualified I probably would have taken him to the Young Star (on MDC grand final night), but we've got another race to go for now," Lord said.
Monday night's Maitland regional final saw Darryl Thomas' Whitfield, Mark Moroney's Fire Legend and Michael Eberand's Ebby Infrared progress to the semi-finals - taking the total to 45 greyhounds qualified out of the 15 regional venues.
The series will move to Wentworth Park where City Preludes will be held next Saturday night when the final semi-finalists will be decided.
From there, six nights later the semi-finals will be held, before the MDC grand final is staged on October 16.
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