Gladman capitalises on APM opportunity


Rohan Gladman scored his first win at Sandown after Squishy Pea won an Aged Prize Money (APM) event yesterday.

Gladman’s Squishy Pea led all of the way to take out the penultimate race of the day. It was just his eighth career start and first at a metropolitan track.

He said the initial plan wasn’t to race at Sandown Park, but given it was an APM meeting he decided to nominate.

“His program wasn’t set for Sandown, but with the Aged Prize Money scheme that’s come in it really does help young dogs like him coming through the system,” explained Gladman.

APM is calculated on a weighted scale to reflect a greyhound’s current form. Greyhounds of similar APM value will be drawn together, and greyhounds will rely solely on their APM value to gain selection. This grading method give greater opportunities for greyhounds of all standards to race against greyhounds of similar form.

“It puts him on a level playing field with dogs of his ability. It just makes him go through the grades a little bit easier, instead of racing against those who have won a dozen races and $30,000 in prize money.

“If I had put him in a normal graded meeting, he could’ve been in a mixed 4/5 and up against it in a strong field. And especially with dogs like him who are a little nervy, their confidence can be easily broken.”

Gladman is relatively new to greyhound racing with just 4½ years involvement in the sport. He was a thoroughbred trainer who joined friends who already had interests in greyhounds.

“I only train two or three greyhounds at a time. I’m primarily a pre-trainer and breaker, have been for quite a few years.

“The first time I went to the track as a trainer my dog won in best of the night time, after that I was hooked.”

Aged Prize Money meetings will continue at Sandown Park every Sunday throughout August.

Click here for further details

Squishy Pea (4) leads all of the way
Jason Adams
About Jason Adams - Racing Operations Coordinator at Sandown Park. Over 8 years involvement in greyhound racing and one of the sport's biggest and most passionate fans.
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