Spring Cleo cleaning house at Ipswich under Byers

By Isaac Murphy

The Byers kennel has been so dominant at Ipswich for so long, it’s sometimes easy overlook their ongoing success.

Now under the guidance of Pauline and Shane - the wife and son of the late Col Byers - the winners aren’t slowing down, in large part because of the form of Spring Cleo.

The bitch has rattled off eight wins in a row and not in easy company either, completely dominant in Best 8 company before recently taking out the Past Member’s Trophy a Class 2 event.

“Her ability to chop and change between the 431 and 520 metres has really surprised us, that extra strength helped the other night when she was three off Rocky (Spring Rock) and ran him down, you don’t see many do that over the shorter trip,” Pauline Byers said.

“Winning Ipswich Greyhound of the Year in 2020, lots of people are wondering why Rocky isn’t winning more races, I can tell you he’s going as good as ever - Spring Cleo has just gone to a new level.

“She’s won 11 races in all this year and we haven’t seen the end of May; she’s well on her way to rattling off 11 more the back half of the year.

"The only thing stopping her might be the return of her kennel mate Spring Bowler, he’s lost his tail but still chases just as hard.”

The progeny of Fernando Bale and Derenger has shown great versatility, allowing her to win a special race for the kennel and she’ll look to double up starting next week.

“Her 500-metre prowess meant we were able to put her in the Past Member’s Trophy earlier this month and she came out and won well, the race meant a fair bit to us given Col’s standing at the club,” Byers said.

“We’ve got Spring Cleo, Spring Rock and Spring Bowler in the heats of the Past Member’s over the 431 metres next Tuesday, it’d be special for any of them to win but of course we want Cleo to extend her streak to nine.

“The Club has always been outstanding remembering those who were a big part of their history and having races like the Past Member’s definitely motivates us to keep working hard.”

Like many of the Byers-trained dogs, Spring Cleo is a product of the Board Syndicate who operate across South Australia and New South Wales, with the owning and training partnership as fruitful as ever.

“She started her career down in South Australia with Greg Board who we get a lot of our dogs from, she won a few races there and came to us as a speedy bitch, but her transformation has been amazing,” Byers said.

“She’d won 14 races from 60 starts and now suddenly at almost three-and-a-half years old she’s found an extra gear and gone on this winning streak.

“Most chasers have done their best racing by then but clearly she’s at the top of her game and may have a bit more left in the tank.”

There are as many 431 metre races at Ipswich in a week than at any other track and distance in Queensland yet the Byers kennel continue to excel, and Pauline said it’s all about keeping it simple.

“The 431 at Ipswich is definitely our bread and butter and has been for a number of years; there’s no real secret to the success, we just make sure the dogs we’re getting are suited to the sprint and it’s always been our policy not to gallop them between races,” she said.

“At the moment with Spring Cleo, if it’s 400 or 500, she just gets that one run a week which seems to give her all the fitness and freshness she needs to front up and do it again the next week.

“We do all our racing here at Ipswich and obviously the familiarity the dogs get probably gives them a slight edge over competition who like to race at other tracks.”

The kennel is continuing their stranglehold on the trainer’s premiership in 2021, well on track for some big numbers again.

“We’re out in front in the trainer’s premiership again which we take a lot of pride in, we’ve had a firm hold of it the last decade and it’s something we won’t be letting go of easily,” Byers said.

“In terms of winners, the numbers are almost identical to when Col was still running the ship, with plenty of hard work we’ve kept ticking along.

“It certainly helps when you have a bitch win eight races straight in the span of a couple of months.”