Bells Are Ringin defeats country’s best
By Michael Floyd Bells Are Ringin caused one of the biggest upsets in group racing history when she defeated the country's best stayers in the Sandown Cup on Thursday night.
Sent to the boxes the 50/1 outsider, Bells Are Ringin began well to cross to the rail and lead the field through the first turn. From there she was never headed, finding the line two lengths clear of Who Dey in 42.02.
For Neerim Junction trainer Gerry O'Keeffe just two years returned from a 28-year absence for the sport - the win was the thrill of a life time.
"I thought this would be a great night for her to jump," he said.
"She did, and cleared them by a whisker and crossed to the rails.
"I thought 'goodness me, I'm going to run a place here!'
"She's always been clean winded but she had been run down a few times when she first started over the distance - I blame myself for having her a little heavier than she needed to be - but I'm learning as I go along.
"To hold off those good dogs, what a thrill."
The story of O'Keeffe and his Sandown Cup winner is a remarkable one.
Finishing up after 35 years as a prosecutor for the Department of Agriculture, O'Keeffe and long time friend Kelvin Jones decided to get back into the sport by training five greyhounds from his 10 acre Neerim Junction property.
At that time, his son inlaw Glenn Pask had bred and reared a litter of pups and was looking for a trainer.
Among those pups was the runt of the litter, Bells Are Ringin.
"This little dog was so sick for the first four months that she couldn't be sold - she looked like a guinea pig with a rat tail," O'Keefe said.
"She's only tiny - 24 and a half kilograms - of which 23 would be heart.”