Swimming Goat back to his best, Weir says

Fame is a fleeting beast.

Rangiora trainer Calum Weir knows that better than most in the greyhound racing industry ahead of tonight's $30,000 Galaxy Sprint at Addington, after his winning streak with Swimming Goat was stopped at 23 wins a fortnight ago.

But the second placing at Addington on October 28 might have arrived at just the right time, judging by his Galaxy semi-final last week.

Swimming Goat was back to his brilliant best last Wednesday, sprinting the 295m in just 16.96sec in his customary front-running role.

Weir said that the phone calls and interviews dried up after the loss.

''The week after, no-one from the media wanted to know me which was a bit different from the previous few months,'' Weir chuckled.

''It had to happen some time so it was probably better then than last week or hopefully tomorrow. It was sad at one point, but quite a relief after that.''

Swimming Goat is a $1.50 favourite for tonight's final after his scintillating semifinal win.

''It was good to know we had him perfect and it wasn't any injury or anything that was the problem [on October 28],'' he said.

''It was just one of those days when he did a few things wrong and the other dogs were just too good.

''To see him come out and learn from that and jump straight to the lead and do what he's done quite a few times was quite relieving, really.''

Swimming Goat is unbeaten from five starts out of box 5, although the presence of Wheelchair Norm who ''likes to go hard left'' in box 6 is Weir's major worry.

''He may not get those two or three strides early to hit overdrive.

''If we can see him in the lead at the first corner, he'll take a whole heap of catching. The only times he's really been beaten is when he hasn't led to the first corner or just past it. We'll have our hearts in our mouths for the first 50m - that will tell the whole race.''

Weir's other runner is in the big feature, the $100,000 New Zealand Cup. Zipping Jordan is unbeaten in two starts in New Zealand, after Weir's father, Garry, bought the bitch from Australia.

''She had only two trials at Christchurch prior to her first heat and even then we were a bit worried she might be too fresh,'' Weir said.

''But she did that nice and pretty much had an identical run for the semis. Hopefully, she can jump and get somewhere near the lead, and we'll be a good chance of a placing.''
 

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