It’s a long way from Kansas to Melbourne, but Robert Britton will be hoping it’s a trip worthwhile when Mighty Matlock makes his city debut at Sandown Park tonight.
Britton is regular visitor to the United States and to the puppy auctions in Abilene, Kansas, where he has purchased a number of pups for racing both in the United States and Australia. The greyhounds sold at Abilene trial before their prospective owners before being offered at auction (the GRV Ready2Race format is based on these sales), however Mighty Matlock was not one of the dogs up for auction.
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“I was keen on a dog named Vested, but it got to USD$40,000 during the auction which was beyond my budget. I was speaking to the breeder (David Strong) after the auction and he told me had a litter brother that was just as good but he couldn’t put into the auctions because of a cut pad,” said Britton.
“So I bought him and he went to Wheeling Island which after Southland is one of the leading greyhound tracks in the States. He had a few starts and won there in good time so I decided to bring him out here to see what he could do.”
Six months later, Mighty Matlock (he raced under the name Matlock in America) made his Australian debut. However it wasn’t plain sailing for the 35kg brindle chaser.
“We had him vaccinated early so that sped the process up a bit. But we had a few issues at this end, things like their microchips being compatible with FastTrack, but then he’s taken a while to learn the caper here too.
“His first trial at Geelong was a hand slip and he turned left and tried to go through the fence. We tried a few different things without much success – the best he trialled at Sandown was 30.37 and in his first race start he carved left again and caused a heap of trouble. But he began a lot better in his win last Sunday which helped him avoid any trouble and he ran 29.79. We’re still learning with him and I don’t think he’ll be a world beater but hopefully he keeps improving.
While the use of American sires in Australian breeding has become common place in recent years, importing American bred racing dogs is still relatively new. Britton has led the way in the importation of racing dogs from America with mixed results, but believes there is a future to it.
“We actually had a dog, Storm Control, ready to come out to contest the Melbourne Cup. He has won two group races in Florida and was back at Abilene waiting to come to Australia when he dropped a back muscle. He’s now standing at stud in Ireland.
“I have a few dogs racing at Wheeling and the prize money is around AUD$1000 for a win and Wheeling is one of the highest paying tracks in the States. The Americans just marvel at the prize money levels here and a few have shown genuine interest in racing here.
“With the dogs themselves, there’s really not much difference between the American and Australian dogs. If anything, the American dogs seem a little more relaxed. I have a little hobby farm over there and will be heading across in a little bit to raise some pups and see how we go. Hopefully with more numbers we can make the whole process a bit more efficient.”
Mighty Matlock will line up in race 2 at 7.25pm tonight. Click here for your free Watchdog form guide.
Paw Note: Vested, Rob’s original target at Abilene, is now racing in top grade races at Southland and will contest race 13 at Southland on Friday morning AEDT. You can stream all races from Southland Park for free from here
