‘Arising’ for a second Phoenix

[Wandering Eyes]

This champion is already a legend!

And now the “Queen of Victorian greyhound racing” – Wow She’s Fast – is on the cusp of immortality.

The ‘Million Dollar Baby’ will be chasing back-to-back victories in the world’s richest greyhound race – $1.65 million The Phoenix (525m) (Race 9, 9.26pm) – at The Meadows on Saturday night.

Her co-trainers, “Team Greenough” (Jackie and Kel), is hoping Wow She’s Fast can claim a mind-boggling $1,000,000 winner’s cheque to become the first greyhound to break the magical $2 million prizemoney barrier – and, naturally, assume the mantle of Australia’s highest stakes earner.

“Box six, I hate box six… Obviously, this has made it a bit tougher.”

Wow… What an amazing climax to the inaugural $4.1 million Dream Chasers Festival.

But to achieve such a monumental feat, Wow She’s Fast (Feb ’20 My Bro Fabio x Fair Of Face) – owned in NSW by Greg Sprod  and Tyrone Whittington, and bred by National Coursing Association of Victoria president Peter Craig – needs to defeat an elite line-up.

The field of superstars has accumulated a breathtaking $4.8m in prizemoney.

Wow She’s Fast has drawn awkwardly in Box 6 and drifted in Sportsbet fixed odds betting, out to $6, behind NSW sprint sensation She’s A Pearl (Box 1) and G1 Silver Chief winner Amron Boy (Box 4) – both sharing $3.30 favouritism.

She’s A Pearl ($1,376,470) currently sits atop the stakes tree and is one of three runners in this race as members of the exclusive ‘millionaire’s club’ – the other being $26 outsider McInerney (Box 8), which has amassed $1,172,770. Both won editions of the Million Dollar Chase this year.

Wow She’s Fast snared the inaugural $750,000 to-the-winner Phoenix as the ‘baby’ of the field at only her seventh start.

Ironically, with a ‘wing’ on every paw, the ‘goddess’ has flown to 17 wins from 25 starts – including two Group 1s (Sapphire Crown and Maturity Classic) and three Group 3s (Launching Pad, Bill Collins Speed Star and Shootout).

She was also a finalist in the G1 Adelaide Cup and G1 Topgun. Her stakes total an amazing $1,258,870.

But the ‘sun gods’ haven’t always been shining on Wow She’s Fast.

“When she first trialled at Sandown, she ran 5.76sec to the first marker and we went oh, oh, what have we got here,” Jackie Greenough said.

“We get so many names from Greg and Tyrone that Wow She’s Fast was just another one on the list and it was like, whatever will be, will be. But she certainly has grown into her name Wow She’s Fast.

“Winning The Phoenix, it was actually a bit surreal because it was such a new race – and it was a little bit overwhelming.

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“We took it in our stride; we just went on and did what we do, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. She loves it, the dog absolutely loves it.

“It’s never about the money… If somebody had told me that a dog could win two million dollars when I first started in greyhounds, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have believed them.”

Wow She’s Fast came up with the ‘green’ alley during last Sunday’s ‘pick-your-own’ box draw event at Southbank, which was televised live on ‘Thrill of the Chase’ on 7two.

It was met with immediate reaction from Kel Greenough, who brought mirth to those in attendance.

“Box six, I hate box six… Unfortunately, there wasn’t many left. We didn’t want to draw inside Plaintiff (which has since been scratched due to injury), so we chose ‘six’ hopefully to follow him across.

“Obviously, this has made it a bit tougher, and box draws make a big difference. We wanted to get drawn out early but unfortunately it didn’t happen, so we just roll with the punches.

“I think she’s had to learn to race against the best dogs and that’s been great. Last year, she was in blistering trial form leading in, so we were fairly confident she’d run a big race.

“But this is a different story, there’s probably a better field this year I believe, and it’s going to be a great race.”

WATCH: ‘Wonder woman’ WOW SHE’S FAST (B4) lives up to her racing moniker in last year’s inaugural The Phoenix.

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