Top trainer treats his ‘athletes’ as if they were pro footballers

TONY Zammit is one of the most decorated trainers in Queensland greyhound racing: Multiple champions and premiership titles in 40 years in the sport.

Think champion chasers such as Pewterfrost, Trojan Tears, Credibility and Surf Lorian.

Today, he trains six greyhounds at his rural Willow Vale property. They are joined by retired racer Harley and a rottweiler Zeta.

The dogs are kept in kennels inside a cool Colorbond shed with the radio on “because it keeps them relaxed”.

They are trained most days from 5am on a straight track owned by a friend of Mr Zammit.

After training they are hosed down and brought home for a breakfast of WeetBix, powdered milk, chicken neck and various vitamins and minerals, including chia seeds, electrolytes and apple cider vinegar.

Several times throughout the day the dogs are let outside to toilet and sunbake.

Mr Zammit said the dogs rested a day either side of racing. Some days he took them for a walk in the evening with his granddaughter.

“It’s no different to a professional footballer,” he said. “You’re doing something with them every day. The day I run them up the straight, I don’t worry about walking them … but if there’s days I don’t run them, I’ll take them for a walk in the late afternoon.

“You have to treat them like an athlete. You want them to be fit. And when I say fit, you want their muscles to be strengthened, their joints strengthened.

“If they’re really fit they can cop a bump in a race.”

Mr Zammit said preparing a dog to race professionally was a long process.

Greyhound pups are reared and taught to walk on a lead by his brother George Zammit before they’re “broken in”.

“Then when they’re about 13 months you get them interested in chasing the squeaker.

“Breaking in means educating the dogs on how to chase a lure and then once they chase the lure properly, they teach them how to stand in a box.

“I now have them broken in somewhere else, then I get them.

“When they come back from being broken in, while it’s fresh in their mind, I might take them to the race tracks. Some days they race and then other days they’ll do trials only.”