After his son, Reece, picked out a winner in the form of Lock Master, Georgetown bricklayer Adam Brandt went back to the same dam to secure a female as a breeding prospect.
Little did he know at the time, but his search for a dream dog was already over.
Brandt heads to Wentworth Park on Saturday night hoping to see French Martini take out the richest greyhound race in the world - the Million Dollar Chase.
Peter Lagogiane-trained French Martini, a $3.60 chance on Friday in a three-way battle for favouritism, will start from box seven in the 520m race where the winner takes home $1 million.
French Martini was an impressive semi-final winner last week, storming home for a 5.25-length victory from box one after being headed early. If French Martini can repeat the result in the final, Brandt will pocket $500,000, along with Lagogiane, who has already trained two winners in the race.
Brandt, though, said he was just excited to have French Martini in the hunt.
"It's a huge thrill," Brandt said. "Just the box draw is a worry for us. We would have preferred to draw on the inside but the trainer's won two of these out of that box, so maybe it's his lucky box.
"She's strong at the end, that's her best trait, so if she can get a bit of luck on that first turn, she'll be in with a good chance.
"It's going to be a hard race though, and anything can happen in a dog race.
"But it's just exciting to be in it. We've been soaking the week up, we've been buzzing all week.
"A lot of good dogs have missed out. That's what I said to my wife [Kristy], we're just so lucky to have made it, so we're just going down to enjoy it. There's 20 of us heading down there, all friends and family."
French Martini, which Brandt bought as a pup for about $5000, has already won nine of 16 starts, including the group 3 Ladies Bracelet, and just under $90,000 in prizemoney.
His path to French Martini started in 2020, when Brandt asked his son what he wanted as a gift following a three-month battle with serious illness.
Reece asked for his own greyhound, which he chose from a litter of Fernando Bale and Sheez My Chicki pups. Lock Master went on to win eight of 18 starts, including three victories at Wentworth Park.
Brandt senior, who trained one dog, Let 'Em Drop, briefly a decade ago, has also dabbled in breeding. After Lock Master's success, he bought French Martini from Sheez My Chicki's next litter, this time with Aston Dee Bee as sire.
"I scaled back a bit for a while," he said of breeding.
"But I'm starting to get back into it now and the plan was to get a female and breed again. Little did I know that I'd get this, so it's a massive thrill."
He said the excitement with French Martini started when she trialled in 29.38 seconds over 515m at The Gardens before her first start.
"That's when we knew what we had and we went out and had a celebratory dinner with a couple of French martinis," he said.
