Since its inception in 1964, the Group 1 Silver Chief honour roll comprises a litany of young greats who have gone on to achieve racetrack stardom.

Consider these luminaries of the loam: 1977 Satan’s Legend, 1978 Tempix, 1983 Chariot Supreme, 1988 Ginger, 1994 Light Of Fire, 1996 Awesome Assassin, 1999 Kantarn Bale, 2004 Big Daddy Cool and 2018 Out Of Range (an older half-brother of latest megastar Hooked On Scotch).

Eight heats of this year’s series, over 525 metres, were conducted at The Meadows on Saturday night and it was Hard Style Rico who led the way to potential greatness.

Trained at Pearcedale by Luckie Karabitsakos, Hard Style Rico set the track alight with a sizzling 29.63sec (Best) in Heat 2.

WATCH: Hard Style Rico (box five) win the second heat of the Feikuai Greyhounds Silver Chief at The Meadows. 

Here are the heats as they happened:

HEAT 1 – TIGGERLONK TONK (Box 1) ($1.40F) defeated Bartholomew Bale (Box 4) ($17.20) by 2.3L in 30.12sec.

TIGGERLONG TONK
T: Correy Grenfell
Won 9 from 18
G1 Hobart Thousand finalist

HEAT 2 – HARD STYLE RICO (Box 5) (2.20F) defeated Route Sixty Six (Box 1) ($3.90) by 4.8L in 29.63sec.

HARD STYLE RICO

T: Luckie Karabitsakos
Won 6 from 10
4 from 5 Trk/Dst
Won past 4

HEAT 3 – SHIMA SHINE (Box 4) ($1.10F) defeated Driftin’ Away (Box 2) ($12.70) by 2.9L in 29.92sec.

SHIMA SHINE

T: Andrea Dailly

Won 12 from 17
G1 Topgun finalist
G3 Warragul St Leger finalist

HEAT 4 – ASTON WIZARD (Box 5) ($13.20) defeated WESTERN ENVOY (Box 3) ($1.60F) by 5.2L in 29.64sec.

ASTON WIZARD
T: Glenn Rounds
Won 5 from 11
Sandown 29.33sec PB
Ballarat 25.06sec PB

HEAT 5 – CHRISTO BALE (Box 6) ($6.60) defeated CAPTAIN JAKE (Box 7) ($7.00) by 1.7L in 30.08sec.

CHRISTO BALE
T: Mark Delbridge
Won 6 from 8
Won past 4
4 from 4 Trk/Dst

HEAT 6 – SIMON TOLD HELEN (Box 1) ($1.10F) defeated WHODAT LOOKIN’ (Box 8) ($21.70) by 5.2L in 29.78sec.

SIMON TOLD HELEN
T: David Burnett
Won 9 from 14
3 from 4 Trk/Dst
1^st G2 Queensland Derby
1^st G3 Cup Night Sprint
1^st G3 Great Chase

2^nd G3 Silver Bullet
Won past 4

HEAT 7 – ZEN PRINCE (Box 2) ($8.10) defeated Weblec Jack (Box 3) ($2.10F) by 1.9L in 30.14sec.

ZEN PRINCE
T: Angela Langton
Won 6 from 11
3 from 4 Trk/Dst

HEAT 8 – WHO TOLD STEVIE (Box 6) ($1.60F) defeated Mister Harlewood ($3.70) by 2L in 29.68sec.

WHO TOLD STEVIE
T: David Burnett
Won 8 from 11
3 from 5 Trk/Dst
2^nd G3 Great Chase