What makes you truly appreciate something significant, is when you have experienced something far from it.
It’s a few years ago now that Peter Carr got his start in greyhound racing, but even he cannot believe where the sport, and he, are right now.
On Friday night, Peter’s greyhound Jimmy Casey has a one in eight chance of winning $1 million in the TAB Million Dollar Chase Grand Final at Wentworth Park.
“No it hasn’t sunk it just yet,” Peter said a few days after Jimmy Casey booked his berth in the final with a thrilling semi-final win at Wentworth Park last Friday.
“It’s just unbelievable. I was just saying to a mate the other day, I started when I was 16 in the dogs, getting taught how to train by a couple of guys who are gone now, Ray Reynolds and Kevin Jackson out at Londonderry, and I would be heading to WYONG and Lithgow and Moss Vale and all these places and racing for $40. I never dreamed there would be a race for a million bucks … and I would have a runner in it.”
While he started in the sport back in the 1970s, Peter’s other racing passion dragged him away from greyhound racing for 20 years.
“I always had a big passion for go kart racing. When I was 12 one of my best mates’ brother-in-law used to race them and we would follow him about and it eventually was something I wanted to do too, and I did well and worked my way to the top in that. I used to contest the Australian Championship and won a few good races, but I got back into the dogs about 2004, and now I’ve set myself up on a little farm (at St Fillans near MUDGEE), as an owner-trainer.”
The property is perfect but being a couple of hours out of Sydney it does mean some late nights travelling home after Wentworth Park meetings, and on one of those trips earlier this year, the result was almost catastrophic.
“It was earlier this year and Jimmy Casey and his brother Charlie Casey had run in the heats of the Derby at Wentworth Park,” Peter explained.
“We were less than a kilometer from home, and a bit of fatigue had set in. I had to swerve to miss a kangaroo, and wrote the side of my car off.
“They both would have been asleep. Charlie was in that side of the trailer which took the big hit and he got spooked and went running down the road and it took me about 10 minutes to find him. Thankfully we all came out the other side, Jimmy was unscathed and while Charlie Casey tore some skin off his feet and received a couple of nicks, we all finished up alright.
“And it really showed me what the people in this industry are like. Charmaine Roberts, of the Keeping Kennels showed real concern and loaned me a car, and Ben Howe, and Syd Swain in Sydney were fantastic. A lot of people in the greyhound industry came to the fore and it showed me how much people do think about you.
“It was an eye-opener for me and I changed things around after that. I was doing too much running around, now I’ve slowed down a little bit, and I’m handling everything no worries.”
Peter knew very early that both his dogs had ability, and the pair have been set for the TAB Million Dollar Chase series for some time. They both were set to race in the Gunnedah series but Jimmy Casey injured himself late one night at home, and Peter was forced to scratch him.
Charlie qualified for the semis chasing home Feral Franky, while Jimmy went to Dubbo and made his way to the semis via that venue.
“From the day I broke them in, I knew I had a couple of special dogs. I always thought Charlie is probably the faster dog. If you trial the two of them, he has a couple of tenths on his brother, but Jimmy is probably the better charger through the field.
“I set them both for the series and I really thought they could get to the semis at least, but unfortunately Charlie hurt his stopper running second to The Feral at Gunnedah and it was a brave run to keep going, but sadly he couldn’t be right in time for the semis so I had to scratch him. But Jimmy did the job.
“It was a mighty run (in the semi-final). Amazing. He got into all sorts of trouble at the first turn and I thought he wouldn’t recover with all those good Melbourne dogs ahead of him. But he recovered quickly and got into a good spot down the back and I thought: “hello, I’m a chance here”.
“You go from one minute thinking you’re gone and in a world of hurt, to putting himself into the race and now … we’re here.
“If he can do that Jimmy, if he gets a few green lights in the final, I’m sure he will account himself well.”
