It’s what greyhound trainers do. Long treks, late at night from racetrack to home, grab a few hours’ sleep and do it all over again. As Tracey Hurst and her husband Frank were making the five-hour trek back to Londonderry from Wagga Wagga, very late on Friday night, she conceded at times it wasn’t easy.
“No, it’s not easy … but it’s fun, and it’s just what we do,” Tracey said as they faced getting home only a handful of hours before daylight. “And Frank’s got to be up at six to pick up some pups, and then we’ll be at Wenty tomorrow night.
“But of course, when you win, it makes the trip a little bit easier.”
While it was long, and tiring, Friday night’s trip was “a little bit easier” courtesy of the stunning performance of their dog, Good Odds BUDDY in the Ladbrokes Graeme Hull Memorial Cup Final.
Seven nights earlier the Hursts had made the same 10-hour round trip for the heats of the Wagga club’s feature race of the year. Again it was a pleasant journey home after both Good Odds Meghan and Good Odds BUDDY had qualified first and second fastest for the $10,000 to the winner final.
On Friday, both came out of the boxes humming. Good Odds Meghan from the five charged to the lead, but her brother drew up alongside and then raced passed her as they carved into the first turn. The first sectional of 5.15s was stunning and made it clear the four-year old track record could be on life support.
BUDDY raced away from his litter sister and his other six rivals and swinging for home the only question surrounded the margin and the time. Both were staggering, with 6¼ lengths back to Cawbourne Madox and Cawborne Marty in second and third, and the time … BUDDY">Good Odds BUDDY became the first greyhound to ever break the 30 second barrier at Wagga, stopping the timepiece at 29.93s.
Those figures slashed 0.14s off the previous track record set by Chilly Babe back in October 2013.
“He went really good,” Tracey said. “She (Meghan) is a good beginner and she came out well again, and it probably was a bit of shock that he crossed her … but it’s not a shock that he beat her.
“Last week was the first look at the track for both of them, so we hoped there would be improvement. They are both good dogs.
“We’ll take them all around to a few different places, and we’re looking at taking them to some of the bigger races now. We’re trying to win what we can basically, before we move up to the bigger races.”
Their other sibling, Good Odds Harada had his big night recently when he won the Group 3 Bob Payne Sprint at Wentworth Park.
“Yeah the three of them are going very well,” Tracey said. “If they were the only three in your kennel you would be happy. We’re pretty happy that they are in ours’.”
