Craig Hughes is aiming for his first city winner when exciting youngster Calendar Boy lines up in the $15,000 GRV Vic Bred final at Sandown Park tonight.
Hughes enjoyed his first winner at Sandown Park when Calendar Boy led all of the way to win his heat by 4¾ lengths in 29.78, and he couldn’t have been prouder of his young charge’s effort.
“He’s nearly 2 years old and it’s taken a lot of time to get him to this stage as we’ve had a few hiccups along the way. He’s always shown a lot of ability as a pup,” said Hughes.
Calendar Boy was acquired by Hughes via purchase from highly respected breeder Paul Bartolo.
“I bought him (Calendar Boy) and his sister (Hollywood Pearl) when they were pups from Paul. The Bartolo bloodline is terrific and generally produce 500m+ dogs.”
Calendar Boy has started his career guns blazing having won two of his three career starts and Hughes believes ‘he’ll only get better.’
Hughes has spent most his life in racing circles however only took up training duties six years ago.
“I purchased a greyhound when I was 19-years-old and have always been involved in horses and greyhounds since. My father trained greyhounds when he was a kid so they’ve always been around. I love the dogs.”
A move to a large property near Geelong triggered Hughes’ drive to train greyhounds.
“We moved to Lara on a five acre property and I decided I wanted a hobby that gave me a release from work. I thought training greyhounds was a doable thing so I decided to have a go at it.”
A greyhound named Macey Blue kick started Hughes’ training career. She won 13 of her 41 career starts however was recently retired leaving Hughes with just four active racing greyhounds in his kennel.
“Just four in work, we recently retired two. Macey Blue was one of them, she was a great initiation for me as a trainer.”
Although relatively new to the training caper, Hughes has great admiration for the professional and successful trainers of the industry.
“If you want to compete with the best you’ve got to take on board what they do. You can’t cut any corners if you’re going to do it properly.”
Calendar Boy will jump from box 2 in tonight’s mixed 6/7 final which boasts a $10,000 first prize.
“It’s amazing, that type of money on offer for greyhounds that have only had a couple wins. I expect him to go well but I won’t be disappointed if he doesn’t – he’s a work in progress.”
The final is race 4 on tonight’s card and will jump at 8.07pm.
Click here for tonight’s fields and form
Calendar Boy wins his heat on Sunday
