Do You Feel Lucky Punk? Adam's Hoping For A Little Luck
By Michael Cowley
Sport - and in particular racing - is so often about those one in a million stories. The unlikely ones. The improbably ones. The ones which don’t seem possible, yet somehow occur. The battler winning when everyone says they can’t.
Bradbury of course produced the most unexpected win in Olympic history in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Winter Games when his four rivals in the 1000m speed skating final, wiped each other out with the line in sight, and the Australian sailed through to collect the gold medal.
“Well, I have thought about Steven Bradbury,” said Adam Smith, trainer of Punk, who on Tuesday night embarks on a journey which would rival any of the storied, one in a million tales.
“It would be one of those miracle stories if she managed to get through, wouldn’t it?”
While Smith certainly doesn’t wish a Bradbury-style fate for his rivals at Gosford on Tuesday night, if Punk was to win or run second in the heat of the TAB Million Dollar Chase, qualify for the Regional Final a week later, and as such take a further step towards the world’s richest greyhound race, then he would be on his way to a Bradbury moment.
Punk will contest the fourth heat of Tuesday’s Gosford qualifiers. A pair of scratchings means she now only has three rivals and will need to beat two of them home to advance to the Regional Final. Finish in the placings there and a spot in the semi-finals at Wentworth Park on October 9 beckons. Win one of those semis and a place in the $1 million to the winner Grand Final belongs to her.
But … we’re probably getting a bit ahead of ourselves.
“I could have nominated her for a fifth grade race, but I thought why not? Why not go around in the Million Dollar Chase heats, you never know,” Smith said.
“She is a bit of a complicated dog really. She has trialled at Gosford in 29.80s, so I know she has the time ability and if she gets the right box, and doesn’t get a check, I think she has the ability to at least place.
“She has a lot of bad luck in races, and gets checked here and there, but I know she has the ability.
“And like they say, you can’t win it if you’re not in it.”
Punk has run fourth at Gosford at her past two starts, and like Smith says, she didn’t have a lot of luck in either run. But if she was to step out and either win or run second to qualify, that would be the highlight of her 41-race career.
Punk has managed 14 placings in that career, and just one win, which came at start 38 on August 5 at Taree.
“When I looked at the Taree field, it was a six dog field and she was favourite and I just said: “This is the one,”” Smith recalled. “I even wrote the date on the collar, because I knew she would win it.
“Then on the day there were four dogs scratched, and the dog (Zarabella) which was left hadn’t run over the 500m its time over 392m was ordinary. It now looked a pretty easy race for her, which would take the shine off the win I thought.
“But Marilyn (Turner) has a habit of her dogs improving over 500m and it turned out to be a hard race, which made it a bit more exciting, and we only just got there on the line.
“It was a long time coming and there were a lot of doubters, and I did cop a bit of flak being new and inexperienced. I got told a lot to get rid of her, that maybe she might sneak a race at MusWellbrook or another Non TAB meeting, but she would never win a TAB race. But she’s well bred and Peter Akers (who bred her) always said to me she has ability, and she can run.
“She has great early speed but she lost her confidence after having two falls at The Gardens early on and at the first turn she does have a habit of easing a bit. She has led about 10 of her races in a row but she eases a bit, generally when she is inside.
“To get through 38 maidens and then win, it was a great time. My first winner, my first race dog. Sure I would have liked the full field, but to get a win with her was great.”
Smith not only enjoyed that win but is enjoying his new career and “being a part of a great industry.”
“My uncle was a trainer at Taree for 15-20 years, and I’m making it my life now,” he said. “I retired from the police force unfortunately with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and psychological injuries at just 37, after dealing with some pretty horrific stuff.
“But I’m loving this life now, and it keeps me busy and active, and I love the dogs, and I’ve just bought a couple more pups, and I’m getting some kennels built.”
