American Warrior’s comprehensive victory in last night’s $100,000 middle-distance feature at Addington was the Faheys’ seventh win in the race since 2006.
But a month ago, a cup victory was barely on the cards for the import.
"He came over from Australia and got a ticket for not chasing properly [in late May]," Dave Fahey said.
"Had he got put out within 10 starts, he would have been put out for a year, so I just sprinted him but I was pretty confident he was cured of it."
The sprinting caper was certainly obvious in American Warrior’s racing style, as he dashed to the early leader Zipping Jordan at the winning post the first time before producing his defining skill.
"He’s got amazing acceleration from the winning post down to the back straight and he just puts a big gap on them," he said.
"I think he’s the fastest dog to the back mark ever at Addington."
Zipping Jordan was four lengths back in second, giving Rangiora trainer Calum Weir a big day out after Swimming Goat’s Galaxy Sprint win.
The cheers from the crowd shortly after the 295m boxes opened said one thing — Swimming Goat was in the lead.
The sprinter gained a cult following both inside and outside the greyhound racing industry after stringing together 23 wins in a row before he was beaten a fortnight ago.
He was back in winning form in last week’s semifinals and last night’s victory in the $30,000 group 1 sprint was never in doubt once he found the lead, going on to win by 5 lengths in 17.11sec.
"There was a bit of pressure off once I saw him jump clean and the six dog [Wheelchair Norm] just didn’t pick it as well as I thought he would," Weir said.
"So we got an uninterrupted run into the the first corner which is exactly what we had dreamed about but didn’t think it would happen.
"He’s got a huge following and it’s amazing that people in the street know who this dog is."
The dog’s profile has brought the quietly spoken Rangiora trainer out of his shell as well, as he has adjusted to dealing with the considerable media interest in the dog at the height of his streak.
"It’s life-changing outside of the sport. Confidence-wise to be able to speak to people I’ve met before is something I’ve always struggled with and it’s been a massive learning experience for me," Weir said.
