Honest Al, The Punters Pal, Can't Wait For Classic

If Tarawi Tiger is to be crowned prince of the Wentworth Park jungle in Saturday night’s Group 1 Ladbrokes Vic Peters Classic, he will have to knock off several other regally bred sons of guns.

The Alan Proctor-trained son of Barcia Bale took out his heat of the age restricted feature in a sharp time of 29.90, but his trainer admits he will have to go to another level if he’s to take out the final boasting progeny of Fernando Bale, Shima Shine, Sh Avatar, Collision and Fernando Blaster.

“It’s always great to be in big races and it’s just such a big kick. But an ordinary fifth grade race is hard to win so when you’re in a group race with this calibre of dogs, multiply it by 10.” Proctor laughed.

“Our guy is desperate for the inside so Box 6 isn’t great and with Minnie’s dog [Zipping Remus] in the one box running 29.50, its going to be hard. But my guy is a mad chaser, he just wants to go and that’s what you want in a greyhound,” he added.

And although Proctor is a big fan of the dog now, it took owner, breeder and long-time friend Lorraine Atchison a while to convince him he was worth taking on.

“Tarawi Tiger was the only dog in the litter and when we had him trialling and broken in, he seemed above average, so I had high hopes for him. I think I made three phone calls to Al insisting he take him and each time he said he was full,” Atchison laughed.

“I remember Christine [Alan’s wife] saying, “what makes you think he’s going to be a good dog, Lorraine?” and I said, “I just think he will be good, and I’d like to enjoy the ride with you and Al if he is,” she added.

And so far, the ride has been well worth the price of admission.

Tarawi Tiger has had 14 race starts for eight wins, broken 30 seconds twice at Wentworth Park, and is about to line up in a Group 1 final at just 22-months of age.

“I’m glad Lorraine persisted because we have had some handy ones together over the years but never a great dog and she always said she wanted to give me a really good one. This guy isn’t a star yet but he’s certainly showing something,” Proctor said.

“We’ve had dogs together for 20 years, Lorraine and me. We used to go to WYONG every Saturday to race dogs and Lorraine and all the family were there. She was only young in those early days but after a while she asked me to train a dog and the rest is history,” Proctor said.

“I’d love to win a race like this for her. She is part of a great racing family and her father [George Singline] won the Vic Peters with Scott Of Minmi back in the 70’s so hopefully we can do it again,” he added.

A sense of mutual adoration shared by Atchison.

“Nobody knows how hard Al works, he’s so passionate, and whenever I’m sitting at home on the lounge with a wine in my hand watching the races, I see Al go on his little run up to the boxes with a dog and it makes me smile, so I hope they can do it on Saturday night,” she said.

The Jilliby-based trainer also confident Tarawi Tiger could be the first of several talented greyhounds to burst onto the scene from the debut litter out of multiple group finalist, Hello Mavis.

“Mavis was a very good bitch and David Smith still says she’s one of the fastest he’s had. I put her to Barcia Bale and the pups are looking good so far,” Atchison said.

“My son in law [Troy McDonald] has the sister to Tarawi Tiger named Isla Of Rose. She had a winning start at Maitland and is every bit as good, if not better than him. She hurt herself in that run but will be back soon though…if I knew she was that fast I wouldn’t have given her to him,” she joked.

Tarawi Maple, a full sister to Tarawi Tiger, also debuted at Gosford on Tuesday night, with the brindle bitch running 30.45 over a 515m contest.

The Ladbrokes Group 1 Vic Peters Classic final, worth $75,000-to-the-winner, will be Race 7 on Saturday night’s Wentworth Park card.
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