It wasn’t simply the 16-hour round trip, nor negotiating a handy field of sprinters to qualify for the TAB Million Dollar Chase semi-finals, that was the most difficult challenge for Victorian trainer Daniel Pell … it was the wildlife on the journey home in the early hours of Monday morning.
Pell made the trek from home at Toolleen in Northern Victoria to Broken Hill, twice in a week, looking to qualify his greyhound Red Reactor for the September 16 semi-finals of the Chase. It was worth the effort with the talented Chaser not only winning on Sunday night and securing his semi-final berth, but lowering the track record in the process.
But, as he had done the week earlier, once the race was run and won, Pell climbed back into his vehicle and headed home on the Silver City Highway.
“I was lucky the week before,” Pell explained. “I got a message from (fellow Victorian trainer) Gerald Lanigan, he used to live up that way and he said just be careful if you are driving home, the wildlife is crazy of a night up there.
“That night on the way home I only saw three kangaroos, six goats, an emu, some owls and foxes, and nothing horrific. I said to myself I don’t know what they are on about.
“Last night on the way home I reckon I saw 403 kangaroos, there must have been 1000 goats and … it was bedlam.
“The speed limit on the Silver City Highway is 110kph and I reckon if you got over 90kph you were a madman.”
The ride home may have been extreme, but so too was the performance of Red Reactor, scoring in 30.23s, snipping 0.04s off the previous mark set during the Broken Hill Cup carnival earlier this year.
Second went to the Shelley Trengove-trained Teddy The Bear, with third spot going to Charlee’s Misty. That pair like the winner gain a berth into the MDC semi-finals.
Pell said he had a choice of regional venues to take Red Reactor to in the hope of qualifying for the semi-finals and decided on the outback.
“From what I have seen over the last couple of Million Dollar Chases, the easiest way is to go to the regional heats,” he explained. “The big boys go to the qualifiers in the city (Wentworth Park) and it’s much tougher.
“I looked at the three options for me - Temora, Wagga or Broken Hill.
“I then had a sneaky suspicion coupled with a bit of information of who was going where, and I knew of some of the big boys were going to Temora so I thought I would avoid them. Then, over the years Correy Grenfell has gone to Wagga, so I thought that could be tough, so I decided Broken Hill might be the best option for me that’s why I ended up at Broken Hill.”
While the trip to Broken Hill takes around eight hours – depending on the wildlife – a trip to Wentworth Park will take him around nine hours. It’s a trip he made a couple of time earlier this year when he brought Red Reactor and his brothers Flight Risk and Love The City to Sydney for the Group 1 Vic Peters Classic.
Both Flight Risk and Red Reactor made the final, the latter finishing a gallant third behind Gatlin in the Group 1 decider in July. The experience of those two runs at Wentworth Park will be a benefit for Red Reactor come the semi-finals a week from this Friday.
“It should help him, at least he’s had a look and that has to be advantageous and he went pretty good, he won his heat and then ran third in the final,” Pell said.
“He was probably a bit unlucky in the final. If you switch the box draws around (Red Reactor had five and Flight Path three) it would have helped. He got run off a bit through the pen, and then bumped a bit turning for home which cost him some of his momentum, maybe he could have won, you’ll never know,
“He’s not the fastest dog in Australia, he’s far from it, but he has got really good ability, and a really good brain in a field. He can avoid the bad trouble, he knows when to go to the fence. He’s a very good race dog in that sense.
“You’ve got to have a crack at these races. You never know, you can jag a good box and win your semi and you’re into the final with a shot at $1 million.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with George Dailly and Jeff and Robbie Britton and the big thing I learnt a long time ago, you can’t be afraid to get beaten. I’m never afraid. I’ve been beaten before and been beaten more times that I have won. There’s always next week, so you’ve got to have a crack.”
