An amazing runner from the start

That was of course before the start of a career which has seen her amass 36 wins and 10 placings from 57 starts, and more than $1.7 million prize money.

With life as a mum beckoning, the on-track end is near, but as she showed on May 20 at Dubbo winning the Group 3 Brother Fox Final, she is still up there with the very best.

But back then at his Illabo property just northeast of Junee in the Riverina, Sims would let Pearl out into the front yard and "just watch her".

"She has a personality all of her own," Sims explained.

"She's a bit mad. She was very light on her feet and she would spin around the yard, then she would run up the trunk of the peppercorn tree - a big tree - and then run across the branch and just jump out of it like superman.

"We had to do something before she hurt herself so we put her around the back in a 40m by 20m grass yard.

"But you would hear this loud bang, so I'd go and check and what she was doing was running up and down full pelt, jumping with all four feet on the gate, use it like a springboard, do a backflip and then take off.

"We ended up putting her in a small yard and she came good, she changed, settled a bit ... but not a lot."

Ask Sims when he knew She's A Pearl was special and before the question is complete, he blurts out "day one."

"She came to me at about 11 months and I broke her in.

"Her sister, She's Salacious, she was better.

"Pearl was always faster, but Salacious was a real race bitch. I'd take them to the track and Pearl never ever went around her. Salacious just knew what to do.

"But Pearl just picked it up and then she was just playing with them on the track, effortlessly. I took her to Wagga; first start, she broke the track record - 17.95s. It still stands today. That's when I purchased her."

Sims raced She's A Pearl for 20 starts, winning 11 and being placed six times before he made the tough decision to sell her and she moved to leading trainers Andy and Jodie Lord.

"People ask me now do I regret selling her. Yes, but no.

"She is in great hands, I see her every couple of weeks when I go and see Andy.

"She is a beautiful bitch," Sims said.

"One of the reasons I sold her was that Salacious was badly injured and it ended her career and that destroyed me. When you get an offer, you don't know what the future holds, and I'd had several offers for Pearl and finally decided it was time - and it was a really good offer - to accept.

"Salacious went on to become a mum and I've got her 12 month old pups by Fernando Bale here now, and Pearl; well we know what she went on to become," Sims said.

Just where exactly she sits on the list of greats is fodder for debate, but what is unquestionable is that She's A Pearl has a place on the honour roll of greyhound racing's best.

"Mate, she's at the top of the tree."

This article was produced as part of an ACM partnership with Greyhound Racing NSW.