Burmans unveil another brilliant brood bitch

By Isaac Murphy

Bizarre Barbie has shouldered the load as a stunning brood bitch for Ray and Mary Burman for several years, but after producing hundreds of winners and hundreds of thousands in prize money she’s enjoying a well earnt retirement, with one of her classiest progeny Magic Hornet picking up the slack.

Brockie Magic and Mere Magic in the Group 3 Vince Curry heats last week claimed a first and second respectively to see them both through to the at semi-finals at Ipswich this Saturday night, and the couple more than happy with their progress.

“At 18-months-old you think you’ve got something to work with, but you don’t really know especially starting in a series like the Vince Curry to see both Brockie Magic and Mere Magic come out and perform the way they did was really satisfying,” Mary Burman said.

“From what we’ve seen at home and on the trial track early, speed is their forte and a lot will depend on where they draw to how they perform this week.

“You quite often see vast improvements from one week to the next when young pups are making their debuts, we’d love that to be us given we were a way off the best times, but we’re still learning just like them at this age.”

Brockie Magic took control of her heat early spearing out from box one, and to the average punter she looked in trouble down the back, but the Burmans knew she’d come again.

“Brockie Magic raced pretty much the way we expected, she’s always shown good box manners and has run home in decent time but has never had a back split, hence that dog was able to get up underneath her before she fought back,” Burman said.

“She’s only running 13.50 down the back, which is well below average but we’re certainly not panicking, that’s indicative of a pup who’s eventually going to get further than the 500, but that’s a long way off.

“We just need to pick the right races for her and not rush her into anything, it’d be great to go through to the Final of this series and I hope we do, but she’s ticking all the boxes for the long haul as well.”

Mere Magic managed a serviceable second in her heat, and Mary Burman was just as impressed with her performance given what was against her.

“There’s never been much between Brockie and Mere; I think the only difference in Mere running second was coming out of box six,” she said.

“She wanted to crash into them - if she had the fence, I think she leads and possibly wins.

“She worked home in similar time to Brockie and again will be sweating on a box draw this week and hope for some natural improvement.

“We saw some serious dogs come out of this series last year and in past years as well, to have two from two go through and run to their ability was a great result.”

Bizarre Barbie has produced the likes of dual-track record holder Champagne Sally and Albion Park Greyhound of the Year Big Boy Bruce to name just a couple of her stars, proving you can’t put a value on a good line.

“Bizarre Barbie has been a fantastic brood bitch for us, but her hard work’s over now after her most recent litter with Aston Dee Bee, but she’s provided us with a couple of good ones moving forward in Magic Hornet and Champagne Sally,” Burman said.

“We’ve been very lucky finding that right line which started with a little bitch Up And Down a long time ago, to be able to produce your own pups and have a fair idea of what your getting makes training a lot easier.

“Traditionally we’ve always liked to own and train our own dogs and even though we’re downsizing slightly it looks like we’re set for the foreseeable future.”

With Champagne Sally’s maiden litter not far behind, the Burmans were crowded for room at home and outsourced the remaining Zambora Brockie/Happy Hornet pups to a reliable charge.

“I’ve got three others out of the Zambora Brockie/Magic Hornet litter, but I had them reared down in New South Wales with Andrew Monaghan and we didn’t quite get them down there in time to be ready for this series,” Burman said.

“He’s a good trainer Andrew, we wanted to give them to someone who could get the best out of them and we’re confident they’ll all go well for him.

“We would have liked to have kept them all at home, but we’ve got a bit of a log jam at the moment with the Champagne Sally pups coming through at 13 months, so we had to let a few go but we’re as excited as we’ve ever been to see what they can do.”