Hesa Felon's Miraculous Return
Written by: Gerard Guthrie 05/05/10
Record-breaking speedster Hesa Felon will continue his amazing comeback from what should have been a career-ending injury in Thursday afternoon’s Endeavour Motel Mother’s Day Final at Maitland.
Hesa Felon is greyhound racing’s version of the 1970’s television hero The Six Million Dollar Man, as like ‘the bionic man’, the classy sprinter is held together by plates, screws and wire after breaking his hock in four places at Nowra last September.
The severe injury looked to have brought an abrupt halt to a very promising career, which had seen Hesa Felon break records at Dubbo and Nowra and run third in the Group Two Wangaratta Cup.
But after a stint at stud, Hesa Felon embarked on an unlikely comeback and his trainer Darren Sultana has done a wonderful job, with the son of Hallucinate having won three of his four starts since returning to the track.
“He fractured his hock in four places and still has a plate, two screws and wire in there,” Darren Sultana explained.
“He’s a very, very fast dog and it’s just a shame he broke down because he could have been anything, but I suppose that’s racing.
“He went to stud, which was always going to be tough for him, and then when he’d had the time off he needed we decided to give him another crack and see how he went.
“He’s won three out of four since he came back, so we can’t complain. He only ran second at Richmond at his first run back because he was just too fired up after being off the scene for so long.
“A few people have been a bit critical of him, saying he’s not going as well as he was before he was injured, but if they knew exactly what had happened to him they might think a bit differently. He’s lucky to be walking let alone winning races.
“I haven’t wanted to push him too hard yet and he’s just been feeling his way around so far, but I’m hoping on Thursday we might find out whether he’s back or not. I’m hoping he can just spear to the front and show his true colours – hopefully we can see the real Hesa Felon again.”
While Hesa Felon’s against the odds comeback is already a success, considering what he’s been through, it would make a great story even better if the black speed machine – complete with plate, screws and wire – can extend his winning streak to four in the Mother’s Day Final, which will be run at 6.12pm on Thursday.
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