Prado paves the way for racing romantics

By Isaac Murphy

Tim Prado is living out every racing romantic’s dream.

The Brisbane trainer fell in love with the sport through the Greyhound Adoption Program and five years after his first pet, he’s graduated to training his first winner.

The giveaway Tupelo Tommy becoming a winner of two of his last three starts at the Ipswich Showgrounds and Prado couldn’t be prouder.

“I couldn’t believe it when he broke his maiden earlier this month, but now he’s come out and won his Novice on a Saturday night It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Prado said.

“On both occasions everything happened so fast; I was putting him in the boxes and next thing you know I was giving him a bear hug in the car on the way home - I’ve never had a feeling like it.

“He’s never going to be a champion but he’s the perfect first dog, I got him as a giveaway and he’s won two races - that’s two more than I expected - and what he lacks in ability he makes up for in heart.”

March 9 is a day Prado and wife Hannah will always remember as their pride and joy broke his maiden over the 431 metres at Ipswich.

“I don’t like to think of myself as an emotional person but the day he won his maiden I just melted, Hannah was in the stands crying, I was that delighted with the dog but to know all the work I’d put into him had helped - was pretty amazing,” he said.

“It was actually my 30^th birthday the day before, so I’d taken a bit of a long weekend and we were just able to soak it all up.

“I’ve always loved racing stories from afar, even though it was a maiden on a Tuesday I knew I was finally apart of one.”

Prado joins a growing list of trainers whose roots began in the thoroughbred industry, with the similarities between the sports making for an easy transition.

“I wasn’t born into greyhound racing, I lived at Hendra growing up and a lot of my mates were involved in the thoroughbred industry in some capacity, so horse racing was probably my first love,” he said.

“My first experience with greyhounds was when my wife Hannah and I adopted a greyhound, we both worked full-time and wanted a relatively low-maintenance dog and a greyhound was the perfect way to go.

“We used to take him down to the park and watch him run and I started watching greyhound racing from there - that was five years ago, and here we are today.”

It was a chance encounter with well-known greater Brisbane starter Camille Scrivens that gave Prado the push he needed to take the next step.

“It wasn’t until we’d adopted our second dog that I met Camille at the dog park and we struck up a conversation,” Prado said.

“She said ‘if you want to come down to Albion Park, I can get you in touch with a few people.’

“Through that I got my handler’s license and spent a bit of time at the track getting to know trainers and the like and people couldn’t have been more welcoming.

“I decided to get my trainer’s license and go looking for a cheapish dog I could have a bit of fun with, I was put in touch with Tony Apap and he gave me Tupelo Tommy as a giveaway.”

Training had been a slow burn for Prado, but he made the most of working from home through COVID restrictions finetuning Tupelo Tommy for the track.

“I had him for a couple of months with pre-training and he was showing me enough that he was going to make a race dog, which is all I wanted, and despite a few injuries he’s got stronger and stronger to the point I’ll probably look at a 0–3-win 630-metre race with him at Ipswich next start,” Prado said.

“He’s really taken a liking to the track at Ipswich, I slipped him there the week before he won his maiden, it was the first time he’d seen the place and he went really well; he’ll be staying there in the near future.

“In a roundabout way, the injuries have been a positive for me, there’s been nothing too major and it’s given me the chance to learn a few things about rehabbing.”

Prado is happy as a hobby trainer and with another exciting pup on the way, he’s brought even more people into the sport he now calls his own.

“I’ve got a great full-time job working for the government, I’m not about to go all in as a greyhound trainer but it’s something I’d like to think I’m going to be involved in the rest of my life,” he said.

“A bunch of my school mates bought a Zambora Brockie pup with the intention of having me train, so I’ll have two in work and two pets at home which is plenty for me.

“I thought my wife was going to take a bit of convincing, but she’s arguably more in love with them than me now, so we’ll see where the journey takes us.”