NSW-owned greyhound Federal Prince’s 23.08 seconds all the way win in the third of four 400 metre Fast Forward heats set the time standard for the time graded 1-4 wins series at Tara Raceway last Thursday.

Owned at Lemon Tree by Noeleen Benjes, the black and white son of Superior Panama and Zipping Lass looked impressive when defeating Cadillac Burns by 8¼ lengths for Allendale East trainer David Peckham.

The win continued the good run Peckham is enjoying with his latest batch of “Federal” greyhounds that have been sent down by Benjes and her son Morgan Fenwick-Benjes.

Litter brothers Federal Prince and Federal Command came down for pre-training prior to the latter winning two races at Murray Bridge over 395 metres.

And Federal Fernando, a son of Fernando Bale and Federal Lilly – a winner of 15 races and more than $160,000 in prize money – has won his past three starts at Murray Bridge prior to contesting a final at Tuesday’s meeting.

Meanwhile, with a view to testing the waters over a bit more ground, Federal Prince tackled a grade six event over 512 metres at Sunday’s Tara Raceway meeting.

Away well from box one in the Produce Store Stake, Federal Prince led until the home turn where Mason Lava took the lead before going on to a 3½ length win over Bungaloo Josh.

The early leader was a further three-quarters of a length back in third spot in a winning time of 30.17 seconds.

“The idea was simply to have a look at him from a Winter Classic point of view,” Peckham said.

“Being a July 2021 whelping, he’s an ideal age for the 512 metre classic.

“The heats are on Sunday, August 20 but before that is today’s Fast Forward final.”

The final Fast Forward heat generally contains some of the faster greyhounds and last Thursday was no exception with Compton Charlie, Cadillac Lloyd and Lektra Ringo all making it through to the Category 2 prize money final.

Compton-based Tracie and Karen Price’s Compton Charlie, a son of Aston Kimetto and Cairnlea Pebbles – a 21 length winner the previous week – once again ran good time when clocking 23.19 seconds to be the second-fastest qualifier.

Meanwhile, Sunday’s meeting looked to be a good day for Pick 6 players chasing the $170, given the favourites in races three through to eight all looked good chances.

Sponsored by Trackside Pet Meats of Mount Gambier, the free on-course competition had recently been won – the jackpot then reverting to $100 and increasing by $10 a week until reaching $500 or having been won in the interim.

Long-time greyhound man Richard Clayfield of Glenroy had been at Tara Raceway when the Pick 6 was first introduced back in January 1997.

In fact, he won the first race run at the Lake Terrace East on Saturday, January 25 with a dog called Bright Option.

And after 26 years of filling out the Pick 6 entry form come last Sunday he had still been chasing his first win.

Surely it cannot be that hard to pick six winners!

Clayfield kicked off with Compton Wink in the first leg (race three) – a first starter trained by Tracie Price and well fancied at $2.50.

No worries there, she won by 5¾ lengths.

Next he went with 3¾ length winner Pat The Rat, a $1.85 chance trained by David Peckham.

Then it was the Vicki Anders trained Mr. Deeds, at $2, who gave Clayfield few worries when winning by five lengths.

No problems so far.

And surely Steve Bartholomew’s Mary Bridget would be able to handle her first crack at 600 metres.

A $1.40 chance, she led all the way for a 4¼ length win.

Our Pick 6 player then became a little more adventurous – he selected Mason Lava, a $3 chance.

And Noel Perry’s brindle dog finished powerfully for a 3½ length win.

And Clayfield was into the final leg.

At $1.65 and drawn in box one, Hooked On Love looked the winner.

Clayfield agreed and, perhaps surprisingly, he was the only live entrant left.

The Price-trained white and black dog found a bit of trouble early before taking a rails run turning for home and then running away to a three length win.

In the end, it was a painless win for Clayfield and one that later had him wondering why it had taken him 26 years to win $170.