Debbie’s Elwick clean sweep
TALENTED greyhound trainer-breeder Debbie Cannan celebrated a first at Elwick on Thursday night when she supplied the trifecta in the Hobart Greyhound Racing Club’s Breeders’ Classic over 461m.
Siberia (Barcia Bale-Emerald Lee) emerged triumphant to beat litter-brother Kintyre, both trained and bred by Cannan, and third-placed Jennifer Alice, trained by Ted Medhurst, is owned and was bred by Cannan.
Cannan and Medhurst have been involved in a racing partnership of sorts for years and, whenever a feature race win arrives, there is every chance they have a hand in the outcome.
Siberia went into the final on the back of an outstanding heat win in which he overcame multiple checks to win and it was that trait which saw him emerge triumphant in the final. He began well from box seven but was still fourth on straightening, however, he showed great determination and stamina to gun the leaders down and score comfortably from Kintyre, who also endured multiple checks.
Medhurst had to settle for training the third placegetter while the David Crosswelltrained Quick Joey Small worked home well to grab fourth.
“Owning and breeding the trifecta in a juvenile classic is a first for me and it’s always a great result when you win these type of races with dogs you’ve bred and reared,” Cannan
said. “Siberia has always shown above-average ability and, once he came to terms with what racing is about, he started to excel.
“I thought his run in the heat to make the final was excellent but maybe it was the box draw that stopped punters from liking his chances.
“Kintyre’s run also was excellent and for him to get up and finish second was brilliant given the trouble he struck.
“Overall, it was a great result but it was a final in which any one of the eight had good enough form to win the race.”
Cannan also bred and owns the favourite Raleigh who led from box one but tired over the concluding stages to finish last.
“I wasn’t disappointed with Raleigh’s effort because she is inexperienced and she still hasn’t learned to deal with that sort of pressure but I’m sure she will eventually,” Cannan said.
Cannan was happy to collect the prizemoney on offer for the Breeders’ Classic but said Tasmania’s greyhound industry is perilously close to imploding if greater incentives aren’t offered for people to breed greyhounds in the state.
“We have a few breeders classic features each year but other than those, breeders have little incentive to go out and spend decent money on good sires.
“We can spend between $6000 and $10,000 on good sires, the same as our mainland breeders, but unlike Tassie, they are running around for $5000 a race and that’s four times what we race for in Tasmania.
“In Tassie, a Tasbred dog receives a $100 Tasbred bonus for a win but that’s clearly not an incentive for people to want to keep breeding.
“We need to get about $500 a win for Tasbred dogs and that’s enough to make people want to stay involved and we all know that if the stakes and incentives are good enough, you’ll have a vibrant industry.”