Snow to the rescue with former country dog

By Isaac Murphy

Tony’s Rescue had his first start for Ned Snow less than a month ago and in that time the former country chaser has won four in a row over the 600 metres at headquarters.

The dog now goes into the Middle-Distance Challenge heats as the form dog in the state over the distance.

The durable chaser had 64 starts to his name for just the seven wins before Snow’s purple patch, making the training effort more impressive.

“I thought we could pick off a couple of 600-metre races with him, but to go four in a row and miss by a whisker last start, he exceeded my expectations,” Snow said.

“Rodney McDonald who had the dog lived in Wagga and said to the owner Graham Codner ‘I’d think about taking him to Brisbane or Sydney’ because he was struggling to find races for him out there.

“Fortunately for me the owner was moving to Redcliffe and decided to bring him to Brisbane and I was the lucky bugger who ended up with him, a lot of credit has to go to his previous trainer because he turned up here in brilliant order.”

Snow had to take stock of what he was dealing with when the dog arrived and made the crucial call to take him straight to the 600-metre start.

“When he first arrived, I trialled him at Ipswich and was thinking about starting him over the 500 there but ended up going to town with him and he’s gone from strength to strength,” he said.

“He really suits the 600 metres; he’s a good box dog and hasn’t been worse than about third in any of his runs and apart from last week has shown he can win the tight ones too.

“He’s a ripping chaser, even when he ran second the stewards called me in after the race and showed me the replay where he’d hit the rail three times and just kept coming - he’s got a bit of spirit in him.”

Tony’s Rescue is going to have to show some of that fighting spirit from the visitors draw in his heat, though the trainer isn’t too bothered with it all.

“I’m quite happy being drawn out in the eight for his heat, looking at the dogs who are in there I think he can get across and that’s half the battle,” Snow said.

“He’s the in-form 600-metre dog of the field as well; there are some nice types in there, but Infrared Lad is getting older and Shakey Diesel sees the distance for the first time.

“I’d be very happy to see him sitting outside or just off the leader around the first turn.

“If he can get there, I think he can win the race because he’s 100% ready to go.”

The dog is peaking at the right time with races like the Middle-Distance Challenge kicking off what’s set to be a big summer carnival for him.

“The Golden Sands will be his next stop after the Middle-Distance Challenge; that’ll be a step up again, but you’ve got to give him a go while he’s handling it,” Snow said.

“One of the most impressive things about him is the way he’s been pulling up, I thought I might have to give him a break at some stage but he just wants more racing at the moment.

“He’s had a lot of starts, but age wise we’ve got loads of time - I think he’ll only get better.”

The dog celebrates his third birthday next March and it’s around that time Snow thinks he’ll be ready for the truest staying test.

“The owner and I are in agreement that we eventually want to get the 700 with him, but while he’s in this rich vein over the 600 and there’s some nice races coming up, we’ll keep him here,” Snow said.

“The bloodlines are there; his mother Greta’s Rescue won the Easter Cup in Sydney and was an out-and-out stayer - she’s definitely passed some of that ability down.

“We’re thinking about having another litter out of Greta’s Rescue and getting a few pups on the ground, we’ve all got pretty excited about how well things are going - it’d be good to lock down the future as well.”