In Brief
- Trainer has been campaigning in Victoria.
- Leading trainer won't have any runners at return meeting.
- Exciting youngsters a couple of months away.
Starved of racing since the Tasmanian government called a halt to the three codes in April due to the coronavirus pandemic, greyhound racing is scheduled to return in Launceston next Monday night.
And while he won’t have any runners engaged at the program, leading Tassie trainer Ben Englund is as happy as anyone that racing is set to make its much anticipated return.
“It feels like forever,” said Englund.
“I made the call to send my race dogs to Victoria very early on and I’m lucky I did. With the restrictions it was almost impossible to move anything so I called the local horse transport company as a throw at the stumps and they went out of their way to help me and get them over on a horse float.
“Wynburn Gold won at Sandown the other week for Brendan Pursell and Wynburn Redson is with him as well. Wynburn Dancer is in at Warragul Tuesday for Kel Greenough and Wynburn Lethal will hopefully be in at Sandown on Thursday.”
While Englund was fortunate enough to get his racing stock to Victoria, others haven’t been as lucky, forced to mark time for racing to return, a decision firmly in the hands of the Tasmanian government.
“I expect the majority of racing for the first few weeks will be over the shorter trips,” Englund explained.
“Trial numbers have been good but people just won’t have been able to get the work into their dogs’ for 450 and 500s straight away.
“But the main thing is we’re back racing and looking forward now; it’s been a difficult time and I don’t think we will know the real cost of it for a while yet. Take breeding for example, the fallout with that will be felt in two years’ time.”
Forced to sit back and watch other states continue racing under strict biosecurity measures, there’s no hiding the fact that participants from the three racing codes still harbor some bitterness towards the decision to cease racing.
“We understood they needed to make decisions but at what cost?” Englund questioned.
“But, we have to look forward now. There’ve been a lot of people say to me they were getting out of the industry during this time but I just hope their love for the sport keeps them going.”
Englund is looking forward to hitting the track with some exciting youngsters in the near future.
“I’ve got some nice pups that are probably six to eight weeks away from racing … that’ll roll around pretty quick,” Englund said.
“That was the tough thing with the pups. I was two hand slips into breaking eight pups in and just had to stop.
“I’ve got some nice My Bro Fabio x Jouster’s, Fabregas x Wynburn Toozie’s, Worm Burner x Mrs Bubbles’ and Aston Dee Bee x She’s All Class pups. There’s a lot to look forward to.
“One of the My Bro Fabio’s is owned by 30 blokes from the Somerset Footy Club. It’s great to be able to bring some new owners into the game.”