Her name appears on feature race honour rolls across the country, but for Andrea Dailly there is one race that stands above all others.
“The Melbourne Cup to us is the pinnacle,” she said.
“You work so hard all year hoping, just hoping to have a dog to get into the Melbourne Cup. And when you do, it’s the best feeling, it really is.
“The week leading up is nerve-wracking and on the night you get butterflies in the stomach. The crowd makes it – if there’s no crowd it’s just another night – but when the crowd is there and they’re all roaring, it makes it really exciting, it’s a really good feeling.
“And then to win it… I’d be happy with just the trophy! It really is the pinnacle of greyhound racing.”
Dailly was front and centre of what is widely regarded as one of the great Melbourne Cups – the 2015 edition which saw Dyna Double One upstage his champion kennel mate Fernando Bale. ‘Flying Fernando’ was sent to the boxes a $1.40 favourite to take out the world’s greatest greyhound race, however it was his great rival Dyna Double One who would emerge victorious, running a race record 29.17 to claim his first group 1 final in five attempts, and his first victory over Fernando Bale in eight encounters.
“It took me and (husband) Tom so long to watch the replay. It would have been the pinnacle for Fernando to come across the line and finish his career with the Melbourne Cup,” she said.
“And then you’ve got this – I know is going to sound terrible – this dopey big dog Dyna Double One, he was so boisterous and dopey, he gets him on the line. Me and Tom looked at each other and I cried. I was happy we won the race but I thought ‘of all races Double One!’ He was always behind Fernando but no, he came up and beat him.
“That was exciting. First and second in a Melbourne Cup, you can’t ask any more.”
As for a third TAB Melbourne Cup – she also won it in 2011 with Dyna Tron – Dailly believes Hecton Bale and Dyna Patty are the kennel’s two best chances.
“There’s lots of others I’d love to see get in but I’d say they’re our main chances at the moment all going well.”
The TAB Melbourne Cup will be run on Friday 23 November.
Visit www.superdogs.com.au for further information about the TAB Melbourne Cup carnival.
Fernando Bale retired in December 2015 as Australia’s highest prize money winner with $1,299,370 in prize money, a record that still stands today
Andrea Dailly discusses what makes the TAB Melbourne Cup such a special event, and what she thought when Dyna Double One nabbed Fernando Bale in the 2015 edition of the race
