Queen Linda is one of the greyhounds responsible for boosting 83-year-old David Sundstrom's spirits every morning, and on Saturday night she will be pursuing a $40,000 winner's cheque when she contests the Group 2 Ladbrokes Nowra Puppy Classic.
Because Queen Linda lacks early speed, Sundstrom, her trainer, concedes she will need a clear run throughout the 520m race if she is going to win.
But the result matters little to Sundstrom, who has been training greyhounds since 1958, and who was involved with the 1960 Paws Of Thunder (then known as the NSW St Leger) winner Constant Raider.
In recent years Sundstrom and his wife Susan have enjoyed consistent success with several greyhounds carrying the Nordic prefix, a nod to David's Swedish heritage.
"Reason I remember Constant Raider's big win so clearly was because he was trained by a friend of mine, Byron Mercer, and I backed the dog when he won at 33/1 ($34), Sundstrom said.
"In those days I used to assist a lot of the leading Sydney trainers, including Les Harper,'' Sundstrom said.
"There's no doubt greyhounds are good for your health, they keep you going.
"Some days when I don't feel so good, I walk down to the kennels and am greeted by the dogs my wife Susan and I train, all wagging their tails, and I somehow feel a lot better again.
"She was owned by Greg Hore, usually the lure driver at Goulburn, but under the rules, she could not race on that track whenever Greg was driving.
"So when I expressed an interest in her Greg said I could buy her so he put a figure on her and she joined our kennel.
"I think Queen Linda is a genuine 600m bitch so the 520m of the Puppy Classic is probably a bit short for her.
"But on heat times here is only about a half-length between three or four dogs for early pace so if they jam up and Queen Linda finds a clear run she will get to the line strongly.
"Queen Linda ran down Minnie Finn's smart greyhound Both Bowers Ace to win her Puppy Classic heat in 29.68 and she is capable of getting down to 29.60 in the final.
"And for some reason, she seems to like the Nowra track.''
Saturday night's $40,000 to the winner Nowra Puppy Classic is the biggest race in which third-generation trainer Mitch Conquest has had a finalist.
Conquest's greyhound Imploding Mirage was sent out as a $71 outsider before coming from fifth at the first turn and finishing fast along the rails to win his heat in 29.96 by a head from tearaway leader Cawbourne Speech.
"I was hoping for box one, two, or three in the final because Imploding Mirage hasn't got the pace to go with them early and he drew box six,'' Conquest said.
"Because he lacks early pace and is such a good railer he is going to need luck from out there but anything can happen.''
Conquest's father Leon was a successful South Coast trainer while his grandfather Herbert John Conquest was a regular trainer of winners on the old Canberra track.
"I've been training for the past eight years, and am kept pretty busy as I work full-time and have a family to look after,'' he said.
Minnie Finn, who has three finalists in Saturday's Group 2 Nowra Puppy Classic, plumps for Gets Late Early as her best chance ahead of that greyhound's siblings Poco Ricco and Both Bowers Ace.
Poco Rico, who was a 29.58 heat winner has box three, Gets Late Early, who won in 29.75, has drawn seven, while Both Bowers Ace has box two after being narrowly beaten by Queen Linda in her heat.
"History's Coming is probably the dog we all have to beat because he has drawn box one,'' Finn said.
"Both Bowers Ace and Poco Rico are both nicely boxed near the fence as they rail pretty well, but I really like Gets Late Early from box seven, she loves a wide alley.''
Poco Rico was the fastest heat winner on Sunday night.
