Clare with Total Faith.
In the rolling hills of southern New SouthWales, where the air carries the faint scent of eucalyptus and the distant hum of highways, a fawn greyhound named Total Faith has carved out a legend that’s as precise as it is improbable.
Trained by the seasoned hand of Alan Clare, a man whose life in greyhound racing spans decades of triumphs and heartbreaks, Total Faith isn’t just another dog in the kennel—he’s a phenomenon, a four-year-old son of the legendary Fernando Bale who seems to have been custom-built for one track and one track alone: Wentworth Park.
Elsewhere, he’s a puzzle that refuses to solve itself, but under the glittering lights of Sydney’s premier venue, he’s unstoppable, a cult hero rewriting what it means to be a specialist in a sport that demands versatility.
Alan Clare leans against the rail at his property in Nangus, watching Total Faith stretch out in the morning sun, his sleek frame rippling with quiet power. Clare’s no stranger to the game; he’s conditioned champions before, dogs that chased glory across New South Wales and beyond. But Total Faith? He’s different. This dog’s story is one of stark contrasts, a tale of dominance in one arena and frustration in others, all under Clare’s watchful eye.
The trainer’s operation is a well-oiled machine these days, with a stable of active contenders keeping the kennels alive with energy. These dogs fill Clare’s days with purpose—the endless cycle of feeding, trialling, and strategising—but it’s Total Faith who commands the spotlight, especially after his latest triumph.
Last Saturday, on November 8, 2025, under the floodlights of Wentworth Park, Total Faith delivered a performance that felt like destiny unfolding. The 520-meter dash was no cakewalk; the field was loaded with battle-hardened rivals, dogs that had clawed their way through tougher fields and come out swinging. But from Box 4—his sweet spot, the draw that Clare had circled on the calendar like a sacred date—Total Faith erupted from the traps. The clang of the lids echoed through the stands, and in an instant, he was a streak of fawn, carving the inside rail with surgical precision. That tight, loamy first turn at Wentworth Park, with its generous 80-meter run-up to the bend, is where he thrives, where his early pace turns into an insurmountable lead. By the 180-meter mark, he was clear, unchallenged, his strides eating up the track as the pack scrambled behind.
The sectionals told the story: a scorching 5.58 seconds to the first marker, holding a mid-race split around 12.35 seconds that kept the chasers at bay. He powered home in 30.01 seconds, not just winning but dismantling the opposition, crossing the line with ears pricked and tail high, as if he knew the crowd’s roar was for him alone.
Clare was right there in the winner’s circle, his weathered hands steady on the lead as confetti fluttered down and cameras flashed. The victory added another notch to Total Faith’s belt at the track—his sixth win from 20 starts, pushing his strike rate to a solid 30% and his placings to an impressive 65% across those runs. Earnings at Wentworth Park now eclipse $45,000, with his average winning time a razor-sharp 29.94 seconds and a personal best of 29.83, which is breathing down the neck of the all-time mark. But beyond the cold stats, this win was personal for Clare. It came off the back of a frustrating unplaced effort a few weeks earlier, a rare blip that had the trainer tweaking diets and trials in the lead-up.
Box 4 was the key, as it so often is; from inside draws like that at Wentworth Park, Total Faith boasts a win rate over 50 percent, turning punters into believers with returns that border on the absurd. The dog led from the front, as he does in all his victories here, avoiding the chaos that can swallow even the quickest starters.
For Clare, moments like this are the pay-off for years of grinding—the late nights reviewing replays, the early mornings on the lure, the quiet faith in a dog that repays it tenfold on this one stage. The buzz after the race was electric. Owners clustered around Clare, slapping his back with grins that spoke of shared stakes and bigger dreams. Strangers in the stands, those die-hard Wentworth Park faithfuls, started calling him the “TrackKing,” a nickname that stuck as quickly as the mud on the turns. Clare soaked it in, his post-race demeanour a mix of relief and resolve, knowing this performance had silenced the sceptics who whispered about over-reliance on one venue.
Total Faith wasn’t just fast; he was poetry in motion that night, his fawn coat gleaming under the lights, every muscle firing in harmony with the track’s rhythm. Clare watched him cool down afterwards, the dog’s chest heaving but eyes alert, ready for more. It’s that hunger that sets him apart, that unyielding drive that Clare has nurtured since the pup first stepped into his kennel.
Of course, the Wentworth Park magic doesn’t translate everywhere, and that’s where Clare’s expertise shines brightest—managing the enigma without apology. Take the provincial tracks, those “easier” ovals like Temora and Bulli, where the layouts are tighter, the runs to the turn shorter by 20 meters or so. There, Total Faith gets bottled up early, shoved wide in the crush, his lethal pace neutered by the geometry. His splits slow by a critical 0.15 seconds, enough to doom him on those compact circuits.
At Temora over 457 meters, he’s managed just one win from six starts, finishing an average of 4.2nd. Bulli at 472 meters fares a touch better—one from five, but still averaging 4.8th.
The prizemoney tells the tale: nearly half his career haul of $103,250 comes from Wentworth Park, where he averages $2,250 per start, dwarfing the $480 from country jaunts. For backers, it’s boom orbust—plus 185% ROI from inside boxes at the city track, plunging to -62% elsewhere.
Clare’s approach is pragmatic: those provincial hits are strictly for fitness, breathers between the real battles.
“The real races are at Wentworth Park,” he has said, a line that’s become his mantra in post-race chats with industry scribes. That philosophy guided the prep for November 8, with Clare funnelling Total Faith’s energy into track-specific drills—longer straight-line sprints to mimic the Wentworth run-up, rail-hugging turns on softer surfaces to build that hugging instinct.
The dog responded like a finely tuned engine, his sectional DNA—top-three percent early pace, top-eight mid-race—aligning perfectly with the venue’s demands.
In 16 of his 17 races where he’s hit the 180-meter lead, he’s saluted, a stat that underscores why Clare treats wide boxes like poison. From 5-8, the win rate craters to 10 percent at Wentworth, zero elsewhere. It’s no coincidence this latest victory came from Box 4, his fifth win from nine in that alley, a draw he craves like a favourite meal.
With the dust settled on that November triumph, Clare’s gaze is already shifting forward. Total Faith is primed for a Wentworth Park summer assault, the kind that could etch his name deeper into the venue’s lore.
Heats for the Christmas Gift in December loom large, a high-stakes sprint series where his front-running style could shine. Come January 2026, the Australia Day Cup beckons, another jewel in the calendar where specialists like him feast. Clare envisions a campaign built around inside draws, spacing runs to keep the dog fresh, and using those provincial pops as light sharpeners.
It’s a blueprint drawn from experience, one that leverages Total Faith’s quirks rather than fighting them. Back at the Nangus property, as the sun dips low and casts long shadows over the trial paddock, Clare turns his attention to the rest of the pack.
– Tully Potts
The South West Slopes Times covers an area approximately the size of Fiji in country NSW. We look after a population of more than 50,000 people with our staff servicing 7 major towns and dozens of villages with our story telling footprint.
We offer weekly print editions at $3 a copy and we also offer digital subscriptions across 3 months $30, 6 months $60 and 12 months $120.
We are one of the last truly local independent family run newspaper businesses in the state.
Contact us today to find out how we can promote your business or organisation across our huge network by emailing ads@thetimes.net.au or by calling 0413 763 216.
If you have a news tip, lead or scoop for us please make contact as we love celebrating our communities. You can contribute articles via our South West Slopes Times website.
