It’s not quite the calibre of the Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” skit, but the ‘Who Told’ question is gaining momentum in greyhound racing.
The latest in a lengthy line is Who Told Stevie, and, one with a twist, his brother Simon Told Helen. The pair are two of the emerging stars in the sport, and will head to Sydney this weekend for Friday’s heats of the Group 1 National Derby and Saturday’s Group 1 Paws Of Thunder heats.
For the origins of the naming convention we need to go back to early part of the century, where Brian Parsons picks up the story.
“I talked my surgeon Simon Crowley and my GP Mick Carroll into buying a dog,” Parsons explained. “That dog was Spacies Girl and after a short racing career, we bred with her.
“Simon hadn’t told his wife Helen he owned a greyhound, but one of the syndicate members let it slip and let her know. We had a round table meeting of all the owners to find out who told Helen … and that’s where the name first came from. That first one was Who Told Helen.”
Since then there has been Who Told Blackie, Who Told Red, Who Told Harry, Who Told Simon, Who Told Mandy, Who Told Ronnie, the current pair’s mother, Who Told Lindylu (who is out of Who Told Helen), and so on and so forth.
While the 76-year-old says the dogs and his love of them have kept him alive, there’s a few others who have helped along the way, one being Simon.
Back in 1991 he suffered a “Massive stroke” which left him “unable to walk or talk.“ He recovered from that.
Then in 2002, Simon Crowley was his surgeon when he was successfully operated on for throat cancer.
Then, in 2011, Brian was “dead for 25 minutes” when he had a heart attack.
“A friend of mind, Chris Hayes, he saved my life. He worked on me doing CPR for 25 minutes until the ambulance got there,” Parsons says, although he has no memory. “I woke up and didn’t remember anything and was asking why I was in hospital.
“But I’m here to talk about it now, and that’s the main thing.”
And Parsons will be at Wentworth Park this weekend, on for the Derby heats and the heats of the Paws Of Thunder.
The fields for the Derby heats were drawn on Tuesday and Simon Told Helen has come up with the seven in heat two. He will face Silver Chief finalist Hard Style Rico which is now in the care of Jason Mackay (box 3), Gosford Cup finalist Hooray Zipper (box 8), and Jeff Britton’s Weblec Haze (box 1).
There were five heats of the Derby drawn, and also five heats of the Group 1 National Futurity.
The Paws Of Thunder heats will be drawn on Wednesday morning.
Simon Told Helen has won 10 of his 15 starts and nabbed his first Group 1 win with success in the Silver Chief at The Meadows on January 4. He has also won the Group 2 Queensland Derby and Group 3 Cup Night Sprint and Group 3 Great Chase, and pocketed $258,605 for his syndicate of owners.
As the case often is with smart young dogs, the offers have come rushing in, and the owners have already said no to an offer of $250,000.
“David (Burnett the trainer) told me about that offer, but I said they are not for sale. I’ve been in it for almost 20 years trying to get one like this, and they’re not for sale,” Parsons said.
