Brett: Indictment could be my next kennel star

By Jordan Gerrans

Respected trainer Tony Brett is not counting his chickens before they hatch but believes up-and-coming greyhound Indictment is showing all the signs of a dog who can make it all the way to the top.

Bred out of a litter from Brisbane Cup winner Jury, the champion trainer understands the youngster still has some learning to do and when he does get there, the sky is the limit.

Indictment is now four victories from seven starts in his young career, including claiming the 2021 Publicans Cup Final last Thursday evening at Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club.

As the Queensland Greyhound Racing Hall of Fame member explains, the dog is that keen and enjoys racing so much that he will play up in the boxes because he knows what is about to happen once they open.

Once the multiple Group 1-winning trainer sorts out that minor issue around the dog's box manners, Brett feels Indictment could be his star of the future.

“He has got it all ahead of him and to win four from seven, and I think three of those have been under 29.80 seconds, it is really nice,” Brett said.

“He is still doing plenty wrong and if we can iron out a few of his problems – he will go a long way.

“If he can get out of the boxes a bit better, he keeps playing up in the boxes and that is because he is so keen to go and race – he is one of the keenest dogs I have had for a long time.

“He only needs to begin with them, instead of giving them a start, he can go to the top because we know he can run, the motor is there, he just has to develop from being a fast dog into a good race dog.

“If we can get him to the top, people will stand up and take notice of him.”

Bred and owned by Steve Williams, one of Australia’s most prolific greyhound owners, the connections behind Indictment are also filled with excitement.

“If ever he nailed the start, what would he do?” Williams told The Greyhound Recorder last week.

“It looks like he would run 600 metres on his ear.

“Tony did not mention what he has in mind for him. But he will work it out like he always does.

“This dog is as fast as we’ve ever had … but those box manners.

“But at least he is starting to work out how to handle himself in a field.”

Brett credited Williams’ efforts in breeding the litter from Jury and Velocity Onyx, which produced Indictment.

The youngster showed his class in the popular Publicans Cup Final at Albion Park on Thursday night, blowing away the field by 10 lengths in a time of 29.84 seconds from the pink box.

Indictment was slow away from the outside alley and was able to settle next to the fence as they went past the winning post for the first time, before finding a perfect path through the field to score impressively.

That run showed to Brett that his emerging star was learning his racing craft, instead of accelerating into a pack of dogs aiming to turn the corner, he went up the fence and bounded away from them.

Brett has seen improvement in the dog in each of his seven runs, pointing to his debut performance in the middle of July when he ran fourth, declaring he had come along in leaps and bounds since then.

Jury was a smart dog, winning 14 from 38 starts – for $305,008 in prize money for owners, but Brett says it is unusual to see his progeny run even faster than the Queensland Group 1 champion.

“Jury won two Group 1s up here, it is always nice when you have that kind of connection, he is a real home bred so to speak,” Brett said.

“It makes it extra special.

“A couple of my fastest dogs over the last five years, this one and Sentenced – they are both out of Jury.

“He has shown he can throw a quick dog.

“It is special for us that we trained him and now he has gone on to throw dogs that are quicker than he was and not a lot of dogs do that.”