Dundee Osprey, one of the most consistent – and brilliant – chasers to grace Sandown Park this decade, has been retired.
The 35kg son of Fabregas departs the track with $538,600 in prize money next to his name after winning a number of feature events, including the group 1 Topgun, Harrison-Dawson and Sale Cup.
“It’s been a really good ride with him for sure,” said his trainer Geoff Scott-Smith.
“He’s my best mate. We kind of feed off each other. I’d take him to the track and it was like he was trying to win for me.”
The mutual affection and admiration between the greyhound and his trainer is clear as Dundee Osprey bounces around a paddock on Scott-Smith’s Pakenham South property. As Dundee Opsprey – ‘Uno’ as he’s known at home – races over to his owner, Scott-Smith gets emotional as he describes what his champion means to him.
“I don’t really have a need for the money, I’m retired now and own my place. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice but it’s not what I do it for. It (training greyhounds) gives you a purpose, a reason to get out of bed each morning. Getting a dog into tip top condition to be the best they can be is very satisfying.”
Dundee Osprey’s racing career began in unconventional fashion. His first race was in a coursing event at Lang Lang as an 18 month old pup where he reached the semi-final of the Derby. Two months later he won on his race track debut in a heat of the VicBred maiden at Warrnambool, but despite the early success, he had given no indication of the success that lay ahead.
“The whole litter chased straight away. Early on you knew he was a good chaser but at that stage you never thought he’d be a world beater.
“The first few trials at Warragul and Geelong were just so-so. He had a couple of niggles early on, he broke a fibula and had a couple of months off, then he got crook we had to late scratch him at Sandown one night. But once we got all of that fixed up and put him over 500m, after a few trials he was flying.”
After a couple of impressive wins at Cranbourne, Dundee Osprey made headlines at his 14th start when he blitzed his rivals to win in a stunning 29.109 at Sandown Park, a time that even amazed the man who knew him best.
“I took him there on a Saturday morning for his first 500m run and he ran 29.50. I thought that’s pretty good, his run home time was flying. But when he ran the 29.11, I saw the clock and thought geez that can’t be right, but obviously it was.
“He seemed to take a shining to Sandown.”
Dundee Osprey contested an amazing 18 group finals throughout his decorated career, with 12 of them being at Sandown Park. He would finish with an 11-7-4 record from 29 starts at Sandown Park, including multiple wins over each distance. He won the group 1 Harrison-Dawson (515m), the listed Cup Night Middle Distance (595m) and 2016 Speed Star (515m). He also finished second in the group 1 Sandown Cup (715m), group 2 McKenna Memorial (595m) and group 3 Sir John Dillon Memorial (595m) – beaten a total of 3.5 lengths in those finals – winning $277,880 at Sandown Park alone.
However, his biggest win according to his trainer was at the Meadows when he defeated a star-studded line up in the 2016 Topgun. On a cold and wet night, Dundee Osprey defied the horrendous conditions – and box 8 – to register a career-defining victory.
Dundee Osprey wins the the 2016 Topgun at The Meadows
“Most of his big wins came in bad conditions – rain, cold, wet – he seemed to thrive in those conditions and that was one of those nights.
“He was feeling really good, he was jumping out of his skin. I gave him a big chance in the race, I thought if he could get around that corner in third spot and get a sit on them, even if he was five or six lengths off them he could run them down and that’s exactly what happened. You couldn’t write the script any better.
“He gave those speedsters about a six length start and beat them by three. You just don’t get many dogs that do that sort of thing, that come from that far behind to win a big race against quality dogs.”
The win was typical of his racing style and endeared him to greyhound fans wherever he raced, making him not only one of the sport’s best chasers, but one of the most popular.
“It makes you really proud when people say how much they enjoy seeing him race. He was such a competitor, just loved being at the track and racing, I can’t remember a single race where he didn’t try his hardest.
“I’ll never have another one like him.”
Paw note: Dundee Osprey has commenced stud duties and his first pups are due in November
Dundee Osprey
Fabregas x Dundee Rose
Black dog whelped 18/12/2013
Owner/breeder/trainer: Geoff Scott-Smith
Career record
61 starts 21-10-10
$538,600
18 group finals
6 group 1 finals
WON group 1 Topgun
WON group 1 Sale Cup
WON group 1 Harrison-Dawson
WON listed Cup Night Middle Distance
2016 Speed Star winner
Sandown record
29 starts 11-7-4
$277,880
12 group finals
515m – 13 starts 6-1-2 (29.109)
595m – 12 starts 3-5-1 (33.872)
715m – 4 starts 2-1-1 (41.909)
Dundee Osprey, one of the finest chasers of his generation
