An astute online purchase, patience and a well placed phone call landed Queenslander Les Kelly his biggest thrill in greyhound racing at Sandown Park last Thursday night.
Surf Mail and connections after winning the Ron Nestor MemorialKelly flew down from the Gold Coast with co-owner Simon Scott to be trackside as his chaser Surf Mail landed the $15,000 winners cheque in the Ron Nestor Memorial.
“To win here at Sandown tonight is like winning a Group 1 in the thoroughbreds,” said the elated Kelly.
“Sandown has really rolled out the red carpet. We’re really impressed with the facilities and hospitality and will definitely be recommending it to my friends – it’s second to none.”
Kelly is no stranger to success on the race track. His father, Les Kelly Snr, is a leading Gold Coast horse trainer and the younger Kelly is a regular rider at track work. He often takes the horses to the track between working full time at Jupiters Casino. However leading a horse back to the winner’s enclosure is nothing compared to the thrill of landing his first winner at the dogs.
“It’s more of a buzz to win a race at the dogs than at a horse track. There’s no pressure, it’s fun and it’s a great talking point – all we talk about each week is the dog. Even the guys in the stables are asking ‘when’s your dog racing next’. They’re not worried about the 15 horses they have to ride to get ready to race, they’re wanting to know when the dog is racing! It’s creating a lot of interest and a lot of guys are wanting to get involved.”
Looking to buy just his second greyhound, Les scoured the classifieds before settling on the well bred son of leading sire Surf Lorian and Sandown Laurels winner Hybrid Theory.
“I saw him advertised online for $7000, and tried to negotiate the price down but the owner wouldn’t budge. It sounds like a lot of money but in race horse terms it’s really not that much so I rang one of my best friends Simon Scott and went halves.“
Racing in Queensland in the care of leading local mentor Tony Brett, it wasn’t long before Surf Mail was sent to Victoria to continue his career under the watchful eye of three-time Melbourne Cup winner Darren McDonald.
“I’ve been watching greyhound racing since I was a kid and as far as I’m concerned Darren’s the best trainer in Victoria. I’ve always wanted to have a dog in Darren’s kennel.”
Despite suffering a cracked hock in his final start in Queensland, McDonald had seen enough to welcome Surf Mail into his racing team.
“I spoke to Tony (Brett) and he pretty much said he’d won what he could up there and it was time to race for better prize money,” said McDonald.
“He’s Victorian bred and GOBIS qualified so there’s some really nice bonus prize money on offer for him here too.”
Recovering well from his injury setback, Surf Mail suffered a run of poor luck and bad boxes before finally breaking through to win in his heat of the Ron Nestor Memorial. Drawing box 1 for the first time in his 26 start career, Surf Mail began well in the final to sit behind early leader Brent Bale before powering to the line to win in 29.40 seconds.
“He had been trialling well before being beaten in 29.29 at his Sandown Park debut,” said McDonald.
“He finishes his races really well so we’ll look to step him up in distance and maybe aim for a race like the Bert Bryant Memorial (over 595m at Sandown Park on Thursday 2 May)”
McDonald has trained feature race winners throughout the country but was clearly thrilled for the connections of Surf Mail, joining them for a celebratory drink after the race.
“I’d never met them before but they’re good fellas and they’re having a lot of fun.”
The fun was set to continue for the Queenslanders, an early morning flight home no barrier to enjoying their memorable night.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen him race in Melbourne and it certainly won’t be the last,” said a beaming Kelly.
“We have a 5.30am flight home, tonight is only going to get better!”
PAW NOTE: Surf Mail has drawn box 3 in race 9 over 595m this Thursday night at Sandown Park
