Son Of A Gun! Hunter's Pulsating Maitland Debut

FERNANDO Hunter isn't jockey Brenton Avdulla's first foray into greyhound ownership but on the strength of his debut victory he's going to prove the most successful.

On Monday night at Maitland the regally-bred juvenile stepped out for his debut 450m maiden assignment, rattling the clock with a blistering 24.95 victory, scoring by a thumping 8-3/4 lengths.

"The phone hasn't stopped since the dog won – I'm getting more publicity from him than I'm getting for my race riding," Avdulla said tongue in cheek.

"It was a big thrill to watch him win the way he did – it's been a long time coming.

“I've been involved in some greyhound syndicates in the past but never with anything all that successful.

"Monday night was a great start but I'm not jumping the gun. I know the dogs are just like the horses, you don't want to get carried away with them too early on. Plenty can happen."

Adding further excitement to Monday night's win was the fact Avdulla named the promising son of Fernando Bale after his 10-month old son Hunter.

"I'm good friends with (the dogs breeder) Brad Canty and even though there's a couple of us in him he let me name the dog," Avdulla said.

"I was actually surprised the name was still available and him being trained in the Hunter worked in well.

"Hunter's only 10 months but I had him watching and cheering on with me Monday. It was a good night."

Trained by Darryl Thomas, Fernando Hunter became one of just six maidens to break the Maitland 25 second barrier on Monday night.

And to give the performance even further context, later in the night exciting prospect Whitfield, also trained by Thomas, ran 25.02 to win the Maitland regional final of the TAB Million Dollar Chase.

"I follow them enough to know his 18.26 second section is flying," Avdulla said.

"I haven't known Darryl for all that long but I've worked out he's a perfectionist when it comes to his training.

"We catch up every few weeks for dinner and he's been really positive about the dog's progress the last few months. There's no wonder he's one of the top young trainers in the sport."

While no immediate plans are set in concrete for Fernando Hunter, Avdulla did flag that a tilt at the fast approaching Young Star Classic may be on the cards.

"I think the plan is to trial him at Wentworth Park next week and make a call from there," he said.

"But he's only had the one start so he'll be giving away a lot of age and experience in a race like that.

"Whatever Darryl decides will be the right call."