According to Lewiston greyhound trainer Kevin Bewley, Adelaide owner Cledwyn Jones had purchased the nicely-bred Escape Inn after being impressed by the early speed she had shown in races on Victorian tracks.
And connections certainly would have been more than happy with the daughter of Black Magic Opal x Tantrum’s early dash in Thursday’s Commercial Hotel Maiden Stake (400 metres) when she led all the way to defeat Unique Jimmy by seven lengths in 23.49 seconds.
However, Bewley said the win – Escape Inn’s first at start number 13 – was a far cry from earlier in the year when, at her first start at Mount Gambier’s Tara Raceway, she was never out of trouble in the race.
“To be honest, afterwards I was seriously thinking of suggesting to the owner that we retire her.
“Anyway, I initially put her on hold and she started to recover very quickly from what had been a pretty tough run.
“And as she got better and better, it appeared as though she had lost nothing in ability.
“She resumed with four races at Gawler over 400 metres – each run a little better than the previous one,” he said.
For Bewley, last Thursday’s win had been his first at Tara Raceway since Elsie’s Choice had been successful in early May.
Escape Inn’s win had also been his second in two days after Donovan Bale had won over 400 metres at Gawler’s Wednesday meeting.
Bewley’s involvement in greyhound racing goes back to 1987 when he began a 10-year period as Adelaide Greyhound Racing Club (Angle Park) Racing Manager.
“After that I cut ties with the sport and it was not until about six years ago when I was looking for a hobby that I decided to look at getting a greyhound,” he said.
“Together with my wife Carolyn we decided to purchase a property at Lewiston, mainly to cater for her poodles.
“However, I did have in the back of my mind that I would not mind a greyhound to train.
“So what started out as a one-dog hobby has now developed into pretty well a full-time job with 15 dogs currently in work.”
Husband and wife training team cuts it fine
For Glencoe husband and wife training team, Dean and Edna Fennell, last Thursday’s double with Saint Eilish and King Smiley had been their first.
Mind you, it was a real heart stopping sort of double with both greyhounds winning by a half head.
Dean Fennell’s Saint Eilish, who was chasing her first win over 600 metres in the Rock’s Tavern 0-2 Wins Stake, defeated Galactic Hera in a time of 35.74 seconds.
Saint Eilish is owned at Koroit by Peter Byrne, who also bred the daughter of Barcia Bale x Miss Lava.
An earlier litter, by Peter Rocket, produced Saint Maddie who won 10 races at Tara Raceway for the same owner-trainer team.
Ironically, at Tara Raceway’s meeting a week earlier, Edna Fennell’s King Smiley had defeated Saint Eilish over 512 metres by a half head in 30.47 seconds.
That win, his third, had been King Smiley’s first in six months.
It then took only another week to bring up his fourth, albeit just as narrowly, when defeating Flying Fuels in Thursday’s Produce Store Stake (512 m) in 30.66 seconds.
A give away after breaking-in, King Smiley is a son of Spring Gun x Bekim Lucy’s.
And there’s plenty of winning form around the breed.
Bred at Compton by Tracie Price, Bekim Lucy’s won 11 races over 512 metres, 600 metres and 732 metres at Tara Raceway.
She also won over 731 metres at Angle Park.
Litter brother Blazing Moment won 17 races in SA and WA.
He was also a finalist in the 2017 Darwin Cup.
Raced locally by Michael Robinson and Willie Vossen, Bekim Lucy’s was the forerunner to further success for the owners through the deeds of Tandiki, Vossy and Rocketline.
Edna Fennell’s involvement in the sport actually goes back to 1997 when local greyhound racing commenced at Tara Raceway on Lake Terrace East and her husband first became interested.
However, King Smiley is one of the first dogs she has trained.
Meanwhile, Portland trainer Nifty Lenehan landed a double at Warrnambool last Thursday night with Aston Shintaro and Radioactive.
Earlier in the night, Aston Falcon, a quick winner at Tara Raceway the previous week for Lenehan, ran a length second to Idolize in a heat of the GRV VICBRED series (450 m) and is through to next Thursday’s $4250 to the winner final.
