Marathon road trip pays off for couple
IT TOOK 3300km, two cars and a loaned trailer but for greyhound training couple Sonia and Warren Kempshall, their holiday to Townsville was worth it all.
For Warren, it was a return to his roots, after he trained at the Townsville track more than a decade ago. It was also a chance to catch up with some old friends, and to relish in the Townsville hospitality once again.
Since moving to Sandy Creek on the NSW north coast, the Kempshalls have become a dominant force on the greyhound tracks, taking out the Grafton Greyhound Racing Club’s trainers’ premiership for five straight seasons.
But it has also come at a cost, with the pair not taking a holiday together in more than a decade. Not even for their honeymoon.
So when they were offered the chance to go on a three-week break to the North, they didn’t need to think twice. As long as they could bring a few of their best runners with them.
The pair’s holiday came to its crescendo at the Townsville Greyhound Club’s Townsville Cup meeting on Friday night, where handy stayer Modified Trunk finished a gallant second in the Group 3 feature race.
But it was a winner in one of the night’s support races that meant even more to the couple.
In-form bitch Pirate’s Cut put in a sizzling 21.9 seconds showing to outstrip the competition in the Binks and Marlene Walker 4/5th Grade final. It was a win that paid tribute to two people who had an incredible impact on the life of Warren Kempshall.
“Binks and Marlene were like a second set of parents to Warren when he was in Townsville,” Sonia Kempshall said. “Winning that race meant more than anything to him. They had such a big impact on his life, so getting to pay tribute like that was the best thing ever.
“The bitch we took up for it just wasn’t showing her true self the whole time we were there.
“Normally she pings the lids and she is gone, but she had struggled, until the final.
“She put in great run to win, and it was great for us. To us that meant more than trying to earn the dollar here. I was in the catching pen and I just started bawling my eyes out. It was emotional.”
The Kempshalls came within a whisker of further celebrations for the night when champion stayer Modified Trunk was narrowly run down by $61 outsider Quara’s Flick in the final of the $25,000-to-the-winner Townsville Cup.
The Kempshall runner emerged from box eight, and put in the hard yards to chase down Quara’s Flick on the back straight. But after expending the energy early in the piece did not have enough toe to cross back underneath the fast finisher.
It was a Cup boilover for Brisbane trainer Brett Hazelgrove, who bookended the feature podium with favourite Dam Slippery running a length off Modified Trunk in third.
It was a perfect holiday for the Kempshalls, and Sonia was quick to praise the support and kind nature of the local greyhound community.
“The Townsville people really treat the trainers who come from out of town very good, they look after you,” she said.
“We drove 19 hours straight through to Townsville and when we get here, dinner was made and everything for us. It was amazing.”