Melbourne Cup winning trainer David Geall fulfilled a lifelong dream by being trackside for the recent English Derby final.
“To me and a lot of other people, it’s one of the biggest races in world so it was a real thrill to be there,” said Geall soon after his return to Australia.
Geall has become a fixture in major finals in Australia over the past 24 months, having won the Melbourne Cup and Harrison-Dawson with My Redeemer, as well as the Golden Easter Egg and Topgun with Up Hill Jill. It prepared him well for his experience in England.
“The atmosphere was similar to our big races, it’s electric.
“As I got out of the taxi I could just see the cars and people just pouring into Nottingham Stadium. You could sense something big was going on. That’s what I liked about the English Derby – it’s a big race and to the credit to the club, they gave it the respect you’d expect with a race with that sort of tradition.
“There’s a lot of yelling and it’s an electric feeling because the crowd is packed in like sardines. They’re so passionate, the owners and supporters, just everyone in general. There were people there from right around the UK and you could feel it, feel the vibes and it was electric it really was.
“We’ve been fortunate to be involved in a few big races here in Australia so you can relate to what the trainers and owners were going through in the build up to the final. It was a similar feeling to what I had when I’m going to the boxes before the Melbourne Cup. It makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, it was just a really great experience.”
The 2019 English Derby was the 89th edition of the famous race which was first run at the legendary White City Stadium in 1927. Worth £100,000 (around $175,000 Australian dollars) to the winner, it is the richest race in the United Kingdom. It was run at the Nottingham Greyhound Stadium for the first time this year following sudden the closure of the Towcester Greyhound Stadium.
Magical Bale drew box 1 and was the 11-10 ($2.10) favourite for the final. But he was tardy away and found trouble at the first turn ending his chances for victory. Priceless Blake was best away and held off the fast finishing Ballymac Tas and Skywalker Logan to claim victory by half a length and lead home the trifecta for Irish trained greyhounds.
Geall believes that the greyhounds on show would hold up well in Australia.
“I did a bit of research and I was talking to a few trainers over there as to how the dogs in the Derby final would go in Ireland and how that might translate here. The dog that ran third (Skywalker Logan) has broken 28 seconds at Shelbourne Park so he’d be a very good dog here at Sandown. At bit of a guess, I’d say he’d probably run about 29.35 here.
“But those six dogs would be very competitive in grade 4 or free for all company.”
Some of those trainers Geall had met while in England include four-time English Derby winner Nick Savva, and Liam Dowling of the famous Ballymac kennels. As well as making the most of the opportunity to speak to and learn from some of the best trainers from England and Ireland, the locals revealed they also followed the Australian major events and are increasingly aware of the huge stake money on offer around Australia, particularly major races such as the TAB Melbourne Cup.
In an effort to encourage dogs to make the trip down under, the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club granted all English and Irish Derby winners an exemption into the TAB Melbourne Cup heats. However quarantine restrictions remain a major issue for racing greyhounds coming to Australia, as well as the different style of racing and racing infrastructure.
“They all know about our big races. They watch the replays and know all about our best dogs. And they can’t believe the amount of prize money available even in our standard stakes.
“But to give themselves the best chance here, they’d want to be over here, getting acclimatised and getting educated on the inside lure, I’d reckon 3 months before the Cup kicks off.”
While racing greyhounds crossing the equator is problematic, it is less so for breeders who have seen a number of sires have success on the other side of the world. Priceless Blake’s grandfather Brett Lee needs no introduction, while Australian breeders have had great success with northern hemisphere sires including Kinloch Brae whose progeny have won almost 6000 races in Australia over the last decade.
Geall is working towards making My Redeemer, a son of leading Australian sire Fernando Bale available to English and Irish breeders.
“They have all certainly heard of Fernando Bale, he’s not just a phenomenon here.
“It could be a couple of years before we can get his (My Redeemer’s) pups on the ground over there, but I’d love to do it somehow.”
Priceless Blake won the English Derby on the weekend.It is a TAB Melbourne Cup exemption race. How do you think their best would shape up against Australia's top liners?
Posted by Sandown Greyhounds on Tuesday, 2 July 2019
Paw note: For comparison, the Nottingham greyhound track is 437m in circumference compared to Sandown Park’s 443m. The Nottingham track record over 500m is 29.05, Sandown track record over 515m is 28.951.
*Pic above from English Derby sponsor Star Sports Bookmaker,’s twitter account, @StarSports_Bet
