Judging by what we saw last Thursday night at AAMI Park in Melbourne, and what we saw at Bathurst greyhound track on Monday afternoon … it would be an interesting race between Gary and Ryan - dog versus his owner.
Melbourne Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen was the talk of the rugby league world after his stunning performance against the Wests Tigers last week, highlighted by a breathtaking 85m try, which helped the Storm to a tight 24-22 win. And just four days later, Papenhuyzen was a winner again, this time when his greyhound, Gary’s Gift led most of the way to win a 450m mixed stake at Bathurst.
The young fullback, who was standing in for the injured Jahrome Hughes, represented the Australian schoolboys alongside the likes of Nathan Cleary, and was a star with the Wests Tigers under 20s, but hamstring injuries, and with James Tedesco in front of him, he left the Tigers and moved to Melbourne where he was mentored once a week by their since-retired superstar fullback Billy Slater.
After five games off the bench in 2019, scoring tries in two of those, Papenhuyzen got his start last Thursday and dazzled … and so did his dog on Monday at Bathurst.
“I spoke to his dad Neil after the win, and he was pretty happy. As you can imagine Ryan has been a bit busy lately. He’s having a good few days,” Gary’s Gift’s trainer John Chapman said. “He just did everything right today and he was lucky enough to get into the right race to pinch the win.”
Chapman explained it was a phone call from a mate last year that led to Gary’s Gift finding a home in his kennels at Lidsdale near Lithgow.
“A mate of mine who I hadn’t spoken to for probably 16 years back when I was in the building game, rang me out of the blue and said: “Look Johnno I’ve got a mate and his son is a gun football player on the way up and they have this dog who’s been with two trainers and they have both sacked him. Would you be willing to give him a go?”
“I said yeah tell him to give me a ring and we’ll see where we go from there. Ryan’s father rang me up and we spoke and I took the dog, then gave it a bit of a let up and then brought him back and he looked like he could win a couple of races. So I rang them and told them he’s no world beater but he’d win a handful of races.”
John explained that while Ryan is the listed owner, there are “a couple of his mates and his father involved” in Gary’s Gift.
“When he won at Richmond (back on Australian Day) I think there was about 20 people there cheering him on,” John said. “I’d been waiting for the right race to come along for him. I saw this Bathurst race coming up quite a few weeks ago and I’ve been trying to keep him in the 1-2 win grade, and it all worked out.”
John also revealed that Gary’s Gift is on social media with his own Instagram account, and with a number of Storm players as followers, including Will Chambers who pointed out Gary’s Gift win to former Origin and Roosters forward Bryan Fletcher after Monday’s victory.
John said he is yet to meet Gary’s famous owner, but Ryan’s father Neil has told him a visit is likely soon.
“As I said I’m just absolutely stoked that he won. I’ve told them he’s no world beater but they are the people we need in the game. They seem like lovely people, and how good is it to have someone who looks like he’ll be a star in football, involved in our sport? It’s just great and I hope they all continue to have a great ride with the sport.”
