Gary Black has a simple philosophy when it comes to Greyhound Racing Victoria’s Ready 2 Race Sales: ‘Buy young greyhounds that run quick time.’

It’s a theory that has served him well so far, and one that will see him travel to Bendigo on Saturday for the third instalment of the annual R2R Sales with plenty of confidence.

Black has proven a master at identifying young talent in the first two years of R2R, purchasing a total of five greyhounds, all of which have recouped more than their sale price in prize money.

His crowning glory took place at Sandown Park two weeks ago when one of his purchases, the Mark Delbridge-trained Agility, won the $20,000 first prize in the Ready 2 Race final, which was open to the eight highest prize money earners from the 2013 Ready 2 Race Sales.

Black, who lives in Malvern East, says the Ready 2 Race Sales are directly responsible for his return to greyhound racing in 2012 after a period of disenchantment.

“I had bred a few litters over the years but didn’t have a lot of luck with them which led to me getting out of the sport.”

“When the Ready 2 Race Sales was introduced I thought to myself ‘this is perfect’, because with the dogs trialling before going to auction you know what you are paying for.”

“I have bought dogs through the R2R Sales in partnership with other people including George Baklis, who has a background in greyhound racing, and a couple of other people who are first-time greyhound owners…and we’re all obviously having a ball,” Black said.

With the talent pool seemingly running a lot deeper this year, Black has plenty of reason to be excited about Saturday, where the greyhounds will compete for the second time in five days over 425m at Bendigo from 10:00am before going to auction at 1:00pm.
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Black’s 2012 Purchases

SOLAR STORM
Cost: $8.000; Prize money: $19,000

ZELEMAR KNIGHT
Cost;$8,000; Prize money $9,500

CROWBAR
Cost: $7,700; Prize money $10,000
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Black’s 2013 Purchases

AGILITY
Cost $12,000; Prize money $47,000

GO ON THEN
Cost $3,600; Prize money $9,500
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Related: Get Ready for a Bumper Saturday at Bendigo
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Watch: Agility (2) wins the Ready 2 Race final at Sandown Park earlier this month in 29.787sec, a race which carried $26,500 in prize money.
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Pictured top: Agility (inset) and connections (from left) Gary Black, Simon, Natalie and Alan Guest. Pic Clint Anderson.
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