Big Benno's Remarkable Winning Return

LIDSALE trainer Nathan Bendeich has declared Friday night's winning double at Richmond as the start of big things for Bianca Park.

On a hugely successful night for the 42-year-old conditioner, Bendeich guided home Big Benno to victory following 15 months on the sidelines, while also tasting success with blue-blood Silver Scissors.

"It was a great night for Bianca Park and hopefully the start of some big things," Bendeich said.

"Someone told me the other day it had been 437 days since Big Benno's last start so to return a winner is very satisfying.

"But a lot of the credit needs to go to his owner Matt Attard and wife Renee. They nursed him back to health from a very bad liver infection that had him off for all that time."

Back in March, Bendeich jumped at the chance to head up Bianca Park for Matt Attard following his purchase of the property formerly owned by Kim Hyde last year.

"I got to know Matt from buying my meat at World 4 Pets each week the past few years," Bendeich said.

"Earlier in the year I was on the lookout for somewhere to go and he offered me the chance here at Bianca Park and I jumped at the opportunity.

"There's plenty of work to be done but Matt has a plan and it's great to be a part of it all. I'm really excited about the future."

Friday night's slashing 18.60 victory was Big Benno's fifth career success from 12 starts, the victory just reward for 15 months of patience and perseverance.

"Matt and his wife Renee had him at home for the first nine months just getting him healthy again," Bendeich explained.

"When he came up to me at Bianca Park I just started gradually stepping up his work. He's 40 kilos and can be a bit of a lazy worker so I needed to take things along slowly. By the time I got him to Lithgow on the circle he was running home in track record times.

"The week before his start back I gave him a run out of the puppy boxes at Richmond and he went 15.26. But he slipped at the start and should have run 15.06."

With the son of El Grand Senor and Faded Lilly now back up and running, Bendeich says he'll take the slow and steady approach.

"He won't race every week – he's not that kind of dog," Bendeich explained.

"He actually got a ticket for failing to chase after his first race start and Matt bought him after that. Both he and the breeder knew that wasn't the dog – he's a great chaser even if he is lazy and docile at home."

While being overjoyed with Big Benno's victory, Bendeich admits to being equally delighted with the winning performance of Silver Scissors.

"At her first few starts anything that could go wrong did go wrong," Bendeich said.

"She was running really fast in trials but just having no luck in races. First go at Bulli over the 400m she went 22.20.

"It took a three dog race on Friday to show what she was capable of. I couldn't believe the bad luck she'd been having in her races."

Winner at two of her five starts, Silver Scissors, a regally bred daughter of Barcia Bale and Scissor Queen, scored in a slick 30.86.

"Her run home time was the best of the night by quite a bit," Bendeich said.

"She's a 33 ½ kilo bitch. From 15 months to 19 months she's just didn't stop growing!

“With more experience she's going to make a really nice bitch and hopefully the bad luck is behind us now.”