The wait has been worth it for trainer Glen Boody

By Jordan Gerrans

Glen Boody has spent much of his life on the open ocean.

When he isn’t preparing his small team of greyhounds at Deception Bay, he is usually driving around a mobile seafood business, selling prawns and crayfish to people across Queensland.

He once owned a trawler and learnt much of the trade from his father, who was a professional fisherman.

And, as he dabbled in both greyhounds and fishing, he has long wanted to name a greyhound “At Sea”.

But, after training for many years, he had not yet found one of the quality to use the treasured moniker.

“I kept the name At Sea in my head for quite a while,” Boody said.

“I wanted to name a dog At Sea but I wanted him to be a good one.

“I think I have saved the name for the right dog at the right time.”

He certainly pulled the trigger at the correct time.

After sitting on the name for years, Boody finally gave the racing name to a dark brindle dog from a Zambora Brockie and Brittany Talks litter.

At Sea is unbeaten in his nine career races in the Sunshine State, with all those starts spread out across Albion Park and Capalaba.

The impressive youngster will be searching for his tenth straight triumph on Wednesday at Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club in a fifth grade Final over 395 metres.

Across his tenure as a trainer, Boody has long raced greyhounds with monikers that touch on his other passion away from the racing industry, the ocean and fishing.

He also races dogs with names such as Calm Sea, Rough Sea, By The Sea, Deadly Sea and Torrid Sea, among others.

Boody – who is the uncle of leading Central Queensland dog man Ken – has not been driving around his mobile seafood business as much of late, instead focussing his attention in on the dogs.

“I have been in the seafood business for a long time, 20 or 30 years,” he said.

“I owned a trawler for some time, as well.”

Boody bred At Sea and raced his mother Brittany Talks.

He is also racing Lucky Garcia from the litter, who won his maiden at Capalaba late last year.

Jamie Hosking broke in At Sea for Boody and declared to the veteran dog man that he broke in “city class”.

While Boody could never have imagined being unbeaten after almost a double figure number of starts, he did have hopes he would become a smart chaser.

“The dog has just stepped up race by race,” he said.

At Sea will contest his tenth career race on Wednesday afternoon before heading towards another Final, a 331 metre fifth grade decider this time on Sunday. 

Following those two races, Boody will soon raise the bar with his kennel star.

While At Sea has raced at a lower grade since September of last year, the trainer is optimistic that he can eventually be more than competitive under the bright lights of Thursday evening metropolitan racing.

“I have most probably just placed him well over time but I think he will make the grade,” he said.

“Well, he has won nine out of nine, so he probably has made the grade already.

“He still has to do it on a Thursday night, racing better dogs and stepping up.

“If the dog is well and good, we will put him in a fifth grade race on Thursday night soon enough.

“We will take it from there, let him tell us where he wants to go and how quick he wants to step up.”

The Boody surname has become a prolific one in the Sunshine State training ranks in recent years.

Ken wins plenty of races in Central Queensland, Glen has found a smart one on the rise while Amber – Ken’s aunty – also prepared a winner last month.

“He is doing a great job and is a good young man with a dog,” Glen said of Ken.