Kayla-Jane COLEMAN was by the side of her beloved race dog, brood bitch, and best friend ‘Womby’ from her first breath to her last.
The 12-year-old chaser, known on the racetrack as Amnesia, sadly passed away this week, leaving behind a legacy COLEMAN will be forever thankful for.
“’Womby’ set me up in life. She’s given me more than a decade of dogs, but first and foremost, she was my best friend, so it’s extremely hard to say goodbye to a dog you let out every day, cuddled every day, got kisses off every day,” COLEMAN said.
'Womby' is clearly more than just a greyhound to COLEMAN, with the elder stateswomen of the kennel acting as a confidant of sorts to her trainer through tougher times as well.
“I get a bit of depression and anxiety I guess, I’m an overthinker and not a big fan of myself sometimes. I tend to judge myself a lot and think I’m not good enough and all that stuff,” COLEMAN said.
“So there’d be days I’d just go and lay in the kennels with her and cry. Other times I’d just talk out loud to make myself feel better, and every time I went down there, she just seemed to know something was up. She’d just put a paw on me or wrap her leg around as if she were giving me a cuddle, I just loved her,” she added.
This type of relationship is not uncommon in the chasing caper, with trainers, owners and breeders all over the country building beautiful bonds with their animals that will likely last well beyond their lifetimes.
The ‘Womby’ yarn starts way back in 2007 though, when COLEMAN and former mentor, Steve White, purchased a bitch by the name of Forgetful Lucy.
(L) COLEMAN and a heavily pregnant Forgetful Lucy, (Top R) 'Womby' is welcomed into the world, (Bottom R) 'Womby' has her first drink
“‘Womby’ came about because she was the biggest of the four, like a little wombat. And I still remember her tags, 7271 was her litter number, while 70B was the seventh month of 2010 and B was because she was the second one out,” she added.
COLEMAN and White eventually took two littermates each, with Amnesia showcasing a willingness to chase immediately.
“She was so excited to rip in when I began pre-training her. I probably had to hold her back a bit because she was so keen. Back then we had to do performance trials (PT) before they hit the track as well, I will never forget her first PT on February 27, 2012. She went 26.56 at Bulli, which was pretty exciting 10 years ago, so that made me think she could be alright,” COLEMAN said.
Womby as a precocious pup
“'Womby' had her first race start at Wentworth Park and ran second in 30.42, which wasn’t ground-breaking, but she broke her maiden at Nowra in 29.89 [in start number three] and the tears were flowing that day,” she added.
The stress and pressure of the previous 12 months spilled out of COLEMAN as she celebrated her first win as a solo trainer:
“I was staying with Sharron and Ray Webster at that stage, and they were great help, but it was my first time training and winning without Steve [White] I guess. Amnesia’s mum [Forgetful Lucy] actually held the maiden win record at Nowra of 29.89 at the time as well, so she equalled her mum's standard which was really nice too,” COLEMAN said.
“I’m a big sook bag, everyone knows that, but you breed them, you rear them, and it’s quite stressful when you’re choosing a sire as well because it’s two years before you know if that decision was right. I’ve got a child now [Kash, aged five], but at the time, she was like my child, and I was watching her achieve something great, so it was an emotional day,” she said.
The racing career of ‘Womby’ extended until November, 2013 [record of 37: 7-7-6], before COLEMAN embarked on her inaugural breeding campaign.
“I’d done heaps of whelping with Steve [White] but this was the first one where I was sort of running the show by myself. When a bitch comes on season, you rack your brain for two weeks trying to work out which sire you should or shouldn’t go to. Do you have the money? Is it the right choice? You’re running out of time, and you just don’t know,” COLEMAN said.
“But I knew I loved everything about ‘Womby’s’ racing style, so I was dreaming big about her first litter. I didn’t really have the cash to go to a proven sire but I took a risk and decided to put my money where my mouth was. I ended up paying about $8,800 to go to Where’s Pedro because I just wanted to give her the best chance of success,” COLEMAN said.
And success wasn’t far away.
(L) Womby with pups from Where's Pedro, (Top R) Womby in full flight on the track, (Bottom R) Womby enjoying time with her pups
A litter of eight arrived on March 29, 2014 - the best of the bunch, two Group level performers.
“Where Art Thou and Cardiology were my two best dogs. They were just great chasers who loved to run, I’d give anything to have them back in my racing kennel. They weren’t fast early, but they were strong, they’d duck and weave and they had a real will to win. I get tingles now just thinking about them,” COLEMAN said.
“Cardiology won the Globe Memorial Maiden at Richmond which was worth a bit of money and ran in three Group finals. And Where Art Thou ran second in the Hume Cup in 2017, and third in the Rookie Rebel the following year, so they both could run” she added.
The pair combined for 105 race starts, 41 wins, and more than $210,000 in prizemoney.
Cardiology has since thrown Group 1 Sportsbet Dapto Megastar placegetter Tachycardic, while Where Art Thou’s daughter, Forever Thankful, ran in the final of the same race in 2022.
“I have never really given myself too much credit along the way, but when I stop and think about it, every dog I’ve had is from the one brood bitch and that means something. Four generations of chasing now (counting Lucy) and they’re still running good races, which kind of makes me think I’ve done something alright,” COLEMAN said.
A decade’s worth of proven performers have now emerged from the COLEMAN kennel, with most of it owed to her beloved ‘Womby’.
“I think everyone knows ‘Womby’ was the first dog I trained and a lot of the greyhound fraternity has watched me grow up from a shy girl, catching dogs at Nowra without speaking to anyone, to someone who does not shut up and trains a few good dogs. And the biggest part of that has been ‘Womby’,” COLEMAN said.
“A lot of people have seen my journey with her and that’s why when something like this happens [her passing], people feel it as well. I wasn’t ready to let her go, but I could just sense it was her time. I’ve got husband Shaun [Evans] and my son Kash who are obviously great, but sometimes sitting around talking out loud to the dogs feels like writing in a journal. ‘Womby’ and I had a great relationship, she always knew what I needed, and she was just my best friend so it hurts so much, I’ll just really miss her,” she added.
