By Isaac Murphy
Australian Greyhound Racing was put on notice when the Tony Apap trained, David Brasch owned Shorino gave the Albion Park 600 metre record a scare a month ago. The champion trainer declaring the dog the fastest he’s ever trained.
With limited racing available to him in Queensland, Apap turned his focus to the 595 metre Speedstar at Sandown Park. The quickest eight greyhounds on trial and race times are pitted against each other in what is set to be some mouth-watering match racing, which has the astute owner David Brasch excited for what’s to come.
“It’s been a bit of a chequered passage. He’s had a couple of trips down there to trial and Tony (Apap) was a little bit weary on the effect the travelling was having on him when he wasn’t showing that zip in his trials, but we’ve got him in on Sunday and that’s what we came for,” Brasch said.
“We were pretty bullish about what he could do down there after he gave the track record a shake at Albion, but on his first trip away he didn’t quite live up to expectations. To shake that off and still make the field is fantastic.”
Brasch knows his two-year-old is up against it to win the time-honoured event but believes the dog will get a lot out of the race and is not without a hope of running a big race against Jeff Britton’s True Detective.
“He’s only young and improving and regardless of how he goes this year it will be an invaluable learning experience and maybe next year will be his year,” Brasch said.
“True Detective is a really hot young dog and he’s run a bit quicker than our boy which was also in a full field, but we’re confident our bloke can break thirty-four which will put him right in the picture for a Heat win.”
“He’s got the natural ability to win the race, we wouldn’t have invested so much time in it if we didn’t think so, but whether he has the experience is going to be the deciding factor.”
Brasch is the founder of Pedigrees By Design and the go to man for trainers across the country looking to maximise their breeding prospects and it was his knowledge that landed him Shorino and talented brother Tevita Shadow from South Australian roots.
“Years ago I was approached by leading South Australian trainer Cameron Butcher who asked me to design some pedigrees for him and from that came a bitch called Sidney’s Shadow who went on to win South Australian bred greyhound of the year and about twenty five races. She was a serious bitch,” Brasch said.
“Her first litter was out of Barcia Bale and didn’t quite reach the heights expected, second time round we went with one of the Butcher’s dogs Worm Burner. I had a look at the pedigree and loved it and said put me down for two pups.”
“Ideally I wanted the brindle bitch and the black dog out of the litter, but Cameron got first pick and took the brindle bitch and one other leaving me with the black dog I’d wanted and the fawn dog which turned out to be Shorino.”
Brasch and Apap are long time friends who had always talked of racing dogs together and the former was quick to send the pair to the leading Queensland Trainer after breaking them in at his Port Macquarie property.
“As soon as they were broken in, I sent them straight up to Tony (Apap). We’ve all seen what Shorino is capable of, but watch out for Tevita Shadow who’s had four wins from his nine starts. He’s just about as good as him, he just hasn’t had a good run with injuries,” Brasch said
While the Speedstar is the immediate focus, Queensland punters are set to get a good look at Shorino for the rest of the year with some suitable middle-distance events on the calendar.
“There are a number of good middle-distance races coming up for him at Albion Park, with the Queensland Cup and Clem Jones Cup towards the end of the year,” Brasch said.
“It’s really nice to have a couple of feature 600 metre races. Quite often when there is not much on you have to drop back to the 520 metres, but I know the club and Racing Queensland have been working really hard with trainers to get more middle-distance features. It’s good to see.”
“There is also the potential to give him a go over seven hundred, but we’re not too keen to get him over the distance just yet. There is plenty of time for him and we’re just excited for the future.”