The dockerland Syndicate has been copping a belting of late with the bad boxes Showground Larry has been drawing and the constant injuries to Sheriff Austin, which are seriously threatening his career. We have been out of the money on a regular basis and straight up we were struggling. But we fought on and for the first time in the Syndicate?s career we had two runners on the one card.

Freo supporters are a steely bunch so, although we were looking down the barrel, when the chance came up to purchase Sheriff and Larry?s sister Vivify the Docker members jumped at it. We took possession of this bargain priced chaser and the T-Rad, known officially as Trevor Radford, became dockerland?s third trainer as he was kind enough to welcome her into his kennels.

While the T-Rad was taking care of the paperwork he was working Viv up to get her ready for her dockerland debut. Tragedy struck when we drew the obvious dockerland box, being box 8, over the horrific 297 metre distance. No one, including us, gave her much of a chance of finishing in the money. The 297 metre race is a race where if just before the lids open you look down to light a ciggy, when you look up there will be three dogs on the podium. So dealing with that plus the fact that box 8 is a massive hurdle in itself, Viv missing the placings was a fair assumption. However, we left out the X-Factor. We left out and underestimated the T-Rad. He had her fit as Peter Bell and as eager as The Wizard. When the lids opened she shot out of the boxes. We thought we were at a night club with West coast Eagles because she went like a bullet. The Viv couldn?t quite get to the front but she crossed the other six dogs and set off after the leader. It?s difficult to run dogs down over the shorts and the task proved just beyond her. However a magnificent second placing in her best time over the 297 metres was a sensational effort first up and along with that she tipped in something to dockerland Syndicate account. Don?t worry about the T-Rad, he?s got this greyhound training caper covered.

In an earlier race we had Showground Larry jump from the more favourable box, three, over the more favourable distance, 530 metres. Pete and Helen Sayer had him ready to go and the kennel foreman, Glen Price, who had just led out a $24 winner, was leading him out and looking full of confidence. It was a pretty strong race with fabulous Phil Evans having the deserved odds on favourite jumping from the five. It did appear to have the field covered on ability. But when the lids opened the Showground fired up and flew out. He copped a hit before the corner and was back to 4th. Copping another belting he managed to push his way to 2nd down the back. On the home turn he couldn?t get the inside run so he switched around the heels of the leader to try passing. At that stage Phil Evan?s Hot Kiata was going two to everyone else?s one and tried for the inside run that Larry couldn?t get. There wasn?t enough room and he shoved the leader out which cannoned into Larry turning him sideways. It cost Hot Kiata and Larry any hope of winning the race and set it up for the swoopers in Flex Thoburn and Phoenix Rising who came from well back to snare the win and 3rd placings respectively. Larry was relegated back to 4th while Hot Kiata did a magnificent job in still managing to grab 2nd spot. It was a much improved run from Larry as he took more hits than Robert Downey Jr and battled on to grab 4th. It?s just another example of why he needs an inside box. In running 4th he managed to join Vivify in throwing in something to top up the account.

Also on the card was the return of the infamous Fremantle Dockers owned Whaler Widd. Peter and Helen Sayer have been incredibly patient and generous in getting the Whaler back to the track after an injury that should have ended his career. The Whaler was slow into stride being in 7th position on the first bend. He obviously wasn?t happy with the predicament so he put his head down and went into the pack knocking dogs out of the way like Troy Cook on Anthony Koutafides. He did such a magnificent job of belting the other dogs we expected John Worsfold to run to trainers Helen and Pete and whine about the rough stuff. Anyway the Whaler got himself through the carnage and pushed his way to 5th going down the back straight. He clawed his way to 3rd just before the home turn and flew down the home straight to get up for 2nd as he hit the winning post. Its safe to say the old Whaler didn?t fracture any records and, sure, we could have possibly used a one Mississippi, two Mississippi counting method to time him but he run 2nd, he received second placed cheque and he?s guaranteed a start again next week. Kelly O?Donnell tells me he will be toasted at the Dockers Melbourne Cup Lunch tomorrow. (By toasted we mean their drinks will be raised. If their eating Korean food tomorrow then that is purely coincidental.) They can?t understand all this fuss over Makybe Diva. ?Diva fever?, said Kelly. ?Give me a break, she?s no Whaler Widd.?

So all in all when you have three Fremantle runners and they return three Fremantle cheques you have to call it a successful night. Racing radio?s Craig Evans had a crack at trying to torch us a touch but there was as much heat in the go as Glen Jakovich?s nancy slap on Trent Croad. C?mon Craig you?ve got better than that.

So sit tight and keep your eyes on the form because we?ll do it all again next week