A large group of thoroughbred owners have ventured into the world of greyhound racing and claimed their first city win on Thursday night.
Caribbean Red, owned by the ‘Group 1 Red’ syndicate, was impressive on Thursday in his second look at Sandown Park taking out the opening race in 29.61.
“He’s really strong and he was always going to race in town. He sort of felt his way around last week and we thought he was going to improve,” said part-owner George Farrugia.
Farrugia bred ‘Red’ and met prominent syndicate member Shaun Wallis, a syndicator in thoroughbred racing, at his daughter’s school.
“My daughter goes to school with a girl whose Dad (Shaun Wallis) is a horse syndicator, in conversation we worked out that we both love racing.
“We were just chatting and he mentioned he was a horse syndicator, I said to him ‘maybe you should syndicate a dog’, and it took off from there.
“I bred him (Red) and he broke in pretty fast. I thought this is probably one we want to syndicate to get it off and running.”
Interest throughout the syndicate picked up quickly with the shares snapped up within a day.
“It’s great to get new people into the sport. They’ve had such a ride already with him and he’s only had a handful of starts. It’s not just the dog they’re interested in now, they’re interested in the sport. It’s not just about backing the red or backing the pink, they’re actually looking at a little bit of form. They want to know about the stars and they have a punt, that for me is worth its weight in gold.”
Another part-owner who was on track, Liam Allen, has been involved in horse ownership for years, with this involvement his first in greyhound racing.
“I was mainly into the horses. Through some mutual friends I met George, so far it’s been a blast.
“With horses, they can have like three, four runs and then they are out for a spell every three months. With a greyhound they’re racing almost every week and we’re at the track seeing them run.”
The syndicate is a group of 20 who are spread all over Victoria.
Australian Racing Hall of Fame member Jimmy Cassidy is also a member of the ‘Group 1 Red’ syndicate. He is just one of just three jockeys to have ridden 100 group 1 winners in Australia.
Click here for Thursday’s results
