By Pat McLeod
The greyhound-rich Wooler clan are hoping to celebrate their first Townsville Young Guns success with four strong contenders in Tuesday night’s very competitive heats.
Matriarch, Jo Wooler, says despite having four chasers across the three heats, a Finals berth will be no guarantee.
“These are hard races,” the 30-year Townsville greyhound racing veteran said.
“You have dogs like Good Odds Rascal (trained by Michael Hickmott), who is racing really well in beautiful form. Then of course there is Senor Yogi, the track record holder. They don't come much harder than that.
“All three heats are very strong. It comes down to luck. If you can qualify for the Final and draw the right box, well we are in with a chance.”
The Woolers four chances in the Townsville Young Guns Open over 380 metres heats are Home Slice in heat one, Eyes On Meg in heat two, Hara’s Houdini and Jingalong Lotte in heat three.
Jo and husband Andrew have been long-time participants in the North Queensland greyhound scene, with help from Jo’s mother Patricia Groves and her younger brother Peter.
In more recent years the couple’s son Drew, 25, a high school maths and science teacher and daughter Hayley, 21, have also played their part in the family greyhound business.
Both of the children are registered trainers, however it is Hayley who is certainly blooming in that role.
“She is doing quite well for herself as a young trainer,” proud mum Jo said.
“She is focused on the breeding side of things and is very selective when it comes to the dogs she believes we should have in the kennels.
“But, she is still learning, as we all are. You never stop learning in greyhound racing. Hayley is certainly committed to greyhound racing. She takes a lot of pride in how the dogs are presented, making sure that the dogs have the best of everything.
“I'm confident that as she gets older she will make a name for herself in training and have no doubt that's when she will be involved with an even better class of dogs.”
Jo said Andrew had taken a step away from the training operation to concentrate on a rearing.
“He is now more into the breeding side of things with 14 pups that he is rearing,” she explains.
“We have our race dogs on a half-acre block (near Townsville) and Andrew rears the young dogs on a six acre property out at Alligator Creek (about 20 minutes south of Townsville).
“So, that is now Andrew’s forte, breeding and educating the young dogs while Hayley and I concentrate on the training and racing.