Priest looks to de-throne the Capalaba King

By Isaac Murphy

Since moving to Queensland a year ago, Terry Priest has made Capalaba his territory.

The trainer takes a dozen dogs there a week from first starters to out-and-out stars like Magical Trav and his litter mate Magical Len, who will tangle with the state’s best straight trackers in this Sunday’s second running of the TAB Anniversary Cup.

The well-bred brothers have won 12 races at Capalaba in their young careers; Magical Trav has lost just one of his eight starts - to Jamie Hosking’s Columbian King in a battle that’ll be renewed this Sunday - while Magical Len is coming along nicely with five wins to his name. 

“That was his (Magical Trav) best run to date on the weekend; to get one back over Columbian King who’s been winning everything up there, it was a big scalp,” Priest said.

“They’re building a nice rivalry and hopefully we can come out on the right side this Sunday.

“His brother Magical Len is probably a shade slower than him, but that’s no knock on the dog; he’s still won five races up the straight, it just so happens his brother has won seven from eight.

“Magical Trav is the more realistic hope in the Final, Len will run his usual honest race, but he just can’t put the time on the board that some of those other dogs can.”

The two big guns are drawn side-by-side - Magical Trav in the eight and Columbian King in the seven – and Priest is pleased with the draw but not discounting a field of flyers.

“He works his way to the outside of the track in most of his races and starting from box eight should give us a little bit of a head start,” Priest said.

“I’m glad we’re outside Columbian King, we might be able to get across in front of him, but every dog in that field is a chance.

“Tough as Teak, Ando’s Reject, Hara’s Clyde, Frankie Da Silva to name a few, they’re all going to be running through the line.

“I think our advantage is in the second section; looking at the times that’s where Trav has a little bit on them, so if he leaves well and gets clear running he could open up a decent margin which he’ll probably need in the run to the line.”

Priest had been predominantly racing up the straight with his good work not going unnoticed, and the trainer couldn’t believe it when the Elson kennel came calling with the brothers.

“I’ve got to thank Bill and Cyndie Elson for trusting me with the dogs first and foremost; Bill rang me and said ‘I’ve got a couple that’ll go well at Capalaba for you’ and I couldn’t say yes quick enough - it was very humbling for him to even think of me,” Priest said.

“I didn’t know the breeding until I met him halfway between my place and theirs and when I saw the papers with Fernando Bale and Cyndie’s Magic on them I nearly fell out of my car.

“When I raced a good dog of mine up here in Old Spice, I used to see Bill racing Cyndie’s Magic and I always told him what a beautiful animal she was, little did I know years later I’d get a chance with her offspring.”

Whilst his pair are in such a rich vein of form, there’s no rush to look outside of Capalaba, however Priest will be guided by what the ownership wants with the dogs.

“When we got the dogs off Bill he said ‘just stick to Capalaba with them for the moment’ and that was no problem for my son Josh and I, we do most of our racing there anyway,” Priest said.

“I’ve never discussed or thought about taking them around the bend, they’ve been going that good but what happens with them long term is up to Bill.

“I know Magical Trav broke in beautifully, he ran 19.20 around Golden View and has some flying times around Ipswich, so we’ll see what happens in time.”

Priest came to Queensland with only a few dogs, but he and son Josh - who is next in line to take over the family business - have done a tremendous job putting themselves on the map.

“When we arrived in Queensland about 12 months ago, we went out and bought a lot of proven race dogs just while we’ve got on our feet and due to people like the Elsons and others, the numbers have slowly grown to where we have 20 in work now,” Priest said.

“We’re starting to find that balance where we’ve got some young ones that should be coming through, the goal has always been to get four or five that can race at Albion on a Thursday night and I’m confident we’ll get there.

“Capalaba will always be where it all started for us up here, we’ll never abandon the club.

“We have 10 to 12 who race here every week; it’s great on the dogs as you can back them up and they don’t get injured - you’d be mad to leave.”