MITCHELL White, son of premier trainer Steve White, enjoyed a dream start to his training career by leading home a winning double on his first day at the races.
White took three greyhounds to the Pink Diamond Maiden Series at Warragul last Sunday.
His first runner, Silent Bullet, stepped cleanly from box eight and settled third before switching to the rail through the first turn and putting her nose in front at the line to land a win on debut.
“It was satisfying, especially with her,” he said.
“Early on she didn’t do everything 100% right but I always really liked her. She finally started to put it together slowly, and if there was one dog out of that litter that I wanted to get that first win with it was her so I was really happy with that.”
After Black Silencer ran fourth a close fourth in race seven, White loaded Lethal Sniper in the tenth event and the striking white dog worked through the field to record the fastest time of the Pink Diamond Sprinter heats and give White a memorable winning double.
“Lethal Sniper – he’s just always been the standout of the lot of them,” he said.
‘Sniper’ on target
LETHAL SNIPER was the fastest of the four heat winners in the @sportsbetcomau #PinkDiamond Maiden Sprinter at Warragul.
LETHAL SNIPER (HOOKED ON SCOTCH x GWYDION – October 2021) won by over four lengths on debut.#GreyhoundRacing pic.twitter.com/iX5CNFJlRA
— WatchDog Racing (@WatchDogRacing) June 4, 2023
“He’s been going really, really good – he hasn’t drawn well in the semis, he’s got box six – but as they say the good dogs win from any box so we’ll just see how he goes.
“But he’s definitely the best of them. He’s always had the ability and it showed from the time they broke in. We got offered big money for him after his second trial but it wasn’t really an option to be honest.
“I thought they were pretty good chances (going into the heats) and I’m just really happy that they delivered. It makes the time and the effort really worth it. I couldn’t have asked much more from them.”
White is the son of multiple group 1 winning trainer Steven White.
After a four year stint working in St Kilda he returned to their Buln Buln East property about five years ago assisting his father to prepare his team between shifts at nearby Warragul hospital.
When the younger White made the decision to move into training in his own right, he was given the opportunity to train the Hooked On Scotch x Gwydion litter on one proviso – that he do the work with them as pups. It was a condition the 29-year-old was more than comfortable with.
“That’s how I wanted to start out,” he said.
“We sent them out to be broken in but we whelped them here, reared them here, pre-trained them here. I didn’t really want to be just given a dog that was ready to race, it’s a little bit more satisfying that way.
“Obviously I’m blessed in a sense that I got them out of a good bitch and a good sire and that (breeder) Kirin Corby trusted me with them from the start.”
While White would like to train full time in the future, he says he won’t be rushing into it and that he’s content to work his small team.
He’s adopting a similar approach with this racing team. While progressing through the Pink Diamond is the immediate aim, he will let the dogs dictate where they go after this campaign.
“We’ll just see how they race and take them through the grades. They’re only young – they’re only 18 months – so they have their whole racing career ahead of them.”
The Pink Diamond Maiden series continues at Warragul on Friday 9 June with the finals to be conducted on Pink Diamond Final Night on Friday 16 June.