Trained at Wonwondah by Cliff and Pat Smith, Onions O’Reilly was backing up after a devastating win of 11 lengths to break his maiden status.

After a moderate start he looked likely to be caught in traffic but showed good mid race pace to rail under the field and hit the lead upon straightening to put the result beyond doubt.  

It will be interesting to see if Smith decides to back the young speedster up on Tuesday where he has drawn box 8 in race 10, another winnable race if he has taken no harm from Saturday.

Andrea Gurry (Nhill) also had success on Saturday with Chile Allen winning race 4, a restricted win event over 485m to compliment her consistent form over the last month. For Chile Allen, the win was her second from 10 starts and despite interference in the run showed that she might be able to go on with the job now she has some race confidence.

Gurry also finished a surprise second in race 6 with Xerox Letter who was graded up into a pretty tough field on Saturday. The placing won’t help in the short term as a second will keep her in that grade for another couple of starts.

By race 11 most of the crowd had wisely chosen to seek refuge from the cold and wind and missed John Weir-Smith record a win with El Grand Richo over 410m. As the only dog in Weir-Smith’s Horsham Kennel at the moment, El Grand Richo has done a good job having now won twice from her last four starts.

Tuesday’s meeting kicks off at 3.16pm and the 12 race card and features local representation in most of the races however race 8 shapes as the best race on the card being a special event over 485m, which is open to all grades of greyhounds except maidens.

A strong field has been assembled including Bill Hartigan’s recent kennel addition Rig Fifty Five but he may be chasing the Heathcote trained Extra Gear who can show blistering early pace.