PARIS Borserio needs only one word to explain her decision to start training greyhounds - family.
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The 19-year-old from Huntly is the fourth-generation of her family to enter the training ranks.
More importantly - and much to her delight - Borserio is the fourth generation of her family to now win a race as a trainer following the thrilling success of Wicked Show at Bendigo on Wednesday.
It was the second career win for the brindle bitch (whelped in July 2018) in 21 starts, but the first with Borserio as her trainer.
Her previous win, in August this year at Healesville, was for her former trainer Raymond Sellars.
Wicked Show (Dyna Double One-Seriously Wicked) was having her 12th start for her new trainer.
A pair of seconds in her past two runs had Borserio convinced on Wednesday that her first win was in the offing.
"I got her when she'd had nine starts and her first run for us she was only running around 24.80 (for 425m), which is pretty slow - that's why she's a tier 3 dog," she said.
"But ever since I've unlocked her skills and what she's really good at, I've worked on that .... she is really quick to get out of the boxes.
"She was probably coming out of the boxes at 6.80, which is pretty slow now, but she now's getting out around 6.63 which I am really happy with.
"I've found her weakness is getting home, but we've improved on that too."
Borserio, whose small but developing team includes a few unraced pups, has based her kennel on the family's Huntly farm, where she trains alongside her grandmother Lyn Anstee.
Her great-grandfather was the late Syd Hall, who was synonymous with greyhound racing in the 1960s and '70s and whose dogs set many records at the former Eaglehawk track, including at least one which lasted until its closure in 1978.
Following his sudden death in the late-1970s, Hall's wife Sylvia took over the training reins with much success into the 1980s and '90s.
Borserio said her interest in greyhound racing accelerated following the death of her grandfather Rob Anstee in 2006 and in the time since had grown from fleeting interest, to a handler on race days, and now training her own dogs.
Rob and Lyn are both Bendigo Greyhound Racing Association life members.
Borserio, whose father Greg and mother Sue also race greyhounds and whose sister Samantha helps out with trialling and handling the dogs on race days, is part of a healthy influx of younger trainers making their way into the sport.
She believed most of them shared a common thread - family ties.
"Most of the young ones, their grandparents and parents have all been into it ... it just runs in the family, just like us," said Borserio, who plays senior football during the winter with Kangaroo Flat.
"I'm hoping the next week win comes next week on Wednesday.
"She's done really well in her past three starts. Those two seconds she could almost have won, she just didn't have the 'home-run' pace, which we are still working on.
"But I think she's learned some track sense. Watching the replay, it looked like she was going to go to the outside in the home-run and had she done it, she wouldn't have won.
"But she went to the middle and kicked home. She's learning what to do."
Wicked Show is raced by the 12-member Total Domination Syndicate.
Most of the young (trainers), their grandparents and parents have all been into it ... it just runs in the family.
- Paris Borserio
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