Bendigo stalwart Noel Massina turned “too bloody old” on Christmas Day and he’s planning for the celebrations to continue on Saturday when lightly-raced Bound To Succeed tackles the heats of the Group 1 Feikuai Greyhounds Silver Chief (525m).

Not two until February, Bound To Succeed only started his career in October, winning the lucrative Coonamble Maiden in NSW, an event septuagenarian Massina has targeted for a quarter of a century.

The home-bred son of 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Dyna Double One has gone on to win six of his first seven starts, earning a crack at the Silver Chief with a smart last start 500m victory at Bendigo, clocking 28.00s.

“He’s started off nice,” Massina said.

“He can’t do much more than he’s doing but this (Silver Chief) will be his biggest test, of course.

“He started off winning the big $10,000 maiden at Coonamble. The dogs that ran second (Lately – 6 from 9) and third (Laurie’s Flyer – 7 from 11) to him are nice dogs.

“The Silver Chief wasn’t really a plan. It came up and he’s going well. He won a 500m at Bendigo and looked like he’ll get the distance and he had a post-to-post at The Meadows and went good.

“We thought you never know, if he draws a good box he could make the final.”

Massina’s hopes of drawing well were dashed, with Bound To Succeed having to contend with box five in the seventh of eight heats.

The dangers in one of the most open qualifiers are drawn around Bound To Succeed, which shares the second line of TAB’s market with Mandalorian (box 6) at $4.20, with Weblec Ace (box 3) the $3.10 favourite and Corbett (box 4) at $5.

“He’s drawn badly but he’s generally a pretty reliable beginner and he won his first start at Coonamble out of box five.” Massina offered.

“I’m pretty confident he’s fit enough, although I would’ve liked to have given him another hit-out around The Meadows. I tried to get a trial at The Meadows on Monday but it was booked out.

“He’s dodged a couple of the big names and I think it’s a winnable race. We’ll have a go at it and see how far he can go.”

Bound To Succeed is the headline act in a talented litter, with his siblings including Kuranya, which ran fifth to her brother in the Coonamble Maiden Final and then proceeded to reel off four straight wins, and Double Glaze, which has won three from six.

“We’re only a small outfit and we breed our own.” Massina explained.

“Bound To Succeed’s mother, Marley Sprite, was a smart little bitch and this is her first litter.

“We haven’t bred with her again yet because we’ve got a bitch called Nallak, which won the $10,000 Gold Rush Maiden at Bendigo (2016), that’s had a litter to Barcia Bale.

“We ran the quinella at Bendigo that year with Bakali finishing second and she’s had a litter to Fabregas, so we’ve got enough to keep us busy!”