After a lengthy career which had just featured three wins from 43 starts, Copper Pepper took home the win in the Greyhound New South Wales Pathways Stakes (307 metres) at Kennerson Park.
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The rare win on Monday for the three-year-old red brindle dog left Grenfell trainer and owner Paul Rollins delighted.
“Mate, it’s been a long time between drinks,” he said.
“His last win was last August.”
Copper Pepper’s most recent starts have either been at Wagga Wagga or Canberra and Rollins brought the three-year-old up to Bathurst because of the shorter track.
The race was a pathway race because the dog had lost form and Rollins blames himself.
“It was my own stupid fault because I’ve been running him over 400 metres,” he said.
“We got him as a give away and we were told he doesn’t go over 400 metres, but stupid me kept on running him over 400 metres.”
“He’s just a beautiful dog; an excellent kennel dog. He’s just a bit of rat when you lock him up here.”
Copper Pepper finished 0.07 seconds ahead of Chew Star ($5).
Kelso trainer and owner, John Gebrail, saw No Bear finish third.
Copper Pepper has won at Kennerson Park previously, on April 13, 2015 and his last start in Bathurst was in July last year.