Ask Andrew Crouch how many winners he and his son Adam have trained and the answer is simply: “OVER 100.”
If you ask the former harness racing trainer how many winners he trained and how many he drove in that code, the answer is again, simply: “OVER 100.”
“You count the winners early because you’re not sure how many you’ll have. But I stop counting when I get to 100,” Andrew explained.
This afternoon at Richmond, Andrew and Adam will be hoping that tally – however far beyond 100 it truly is – grows by one or possibly two. They have Big Butters and Jamella Jet engaged in the latest round of Regional Heats of the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase.
“They are both hard races, but both dogs are as good as they can be,” Adam said. “Given the prizemoney on offer, you’ve got to have a crack.
“It’s a great concept and great for the industry and it would be good to get some qualifiers through.
“Jamella Jet is the quicker of the two, but he is pretty inexperienced. He has seen Richmond a couple of times and he has trialled pretty quick there. He should go well, but the draw (box 7) is a bit tricky and Zipping Falcon is obviously going to be hard to beat. But, with a bit of luck, you never know.
“Big Butters is probably more suited to the 600m or 700m but she does love Richmond and she has run 30.4s there OVER this trip.
“She was just outside the 600m track record – 0.04s outside - last week at The Gardens. If she can stay out of trouble out there (also in box 7), you never know.
”We bred her and she’s made a few group finals OVER the 500m early in her career. For a million dollars, you’ve got to have crack. It’s probably not her best distance these days, but with a bit of luck … who knows.”
Andrew and Adam have been in the sport for “six to seven years,” after Andrew decided he needed a change from harness racing.
“Growing up he’d always been in the horses and I never really had an interest,” Adam explained. “He was getting a bit stale with the horses and needed change and we had a few friends who were into the dogs at the time, and we said why not change our stables into kennels and get a few dogs.
“We started with a few giveaways but we’ve been pretty lucky, and had a few good dogs, made a few group finals, and have even got a track record holder (Big Butters) now.”
While in harness racing Andrew, part from driving and training “OVER 100 winners,” also sat behind some handy pacers, most notably smart juvenile Stand Out.
“The last horse I trained – which Adam actually picked out for us to buy - was called Artesian Boy. He held the track record at Menangle for quite a while on the track before it settled in. He went 1.55.7s OVER 2300m. He won his first five for us and ended up winning about 13 or 14 races at all different tracks including Harold Park.
“But I just wanted a break from them and Adam said why don’t we get a couple of greyhounds.
“I love the dogs. They are a really good animal, and it’s been very rewarding so far.
“I just wish I’d done it 30 years ago. It’s fantastic.”
