Neal's plan comes to fruition in Auction Series

By Alex Nolan

There’s nothing quite like the feeling when things go according to plan in racing.

Trainer Tarquin Neal is still experiencing the high of that feeling after Sushi Mango lobbed at double-figure odds to win Saturday’s Group 3 Ipswich Auction Series Final at The Showgrounds.

The high was amplified by the fact that Neal had just weeks earlier been questioning his own training abilities when Sushi Mango endured a luckless 431 metre series campaign.  

Sushi Mango was given time off after pulling up sore out of the 431 metre Final, won by Red Buzz, before tackling the 520 metre series.

“Even though he was victim to a racing incident you question yourself as to whether you’re doing the right thing,” Neal said.

“Being a young trainer and being new to the game, you begin to doubt yourself.

“When he pulled up sore and I had to give him time off I mapped out three different paths and just stuck with one.”

That path saw the son of Zambora Brockie record an impressive win in his heat, before yet another luckless effort when fourth in the semi-final.

Regardless, Sushi Mango had made it to the final in one piece and when TAB posted $18 after drawing box seven, Neal said the pressure came straight off.

Sushi Mango jumped well from out wide and squared off with Red Buzz in the back straight.

“But when he hit the lead I just lost it,” Neal said.

“I do owe an apology to everyone behind the boxes because I got really loud and vocal, which is something I don’t normally do but I had also never had a Group winner until then.

“It’s great when a plan comes off.”  

It is well documented that Neal spent time in the defence force before making a full-time tilt at the greyhound caper.

The lesser told tale is of how Neal has invested most of his time and almost all of his money establishing himself in the industry.

“Everyone says ‘you’re cashed up now’ but it will go a long way to recovering some costs,” he said.

“The first year I moved down it was all hand over fist trying to buy dogs and all that stuff.

“It was a battle just to stay afloat really.

“I’m very grateful to pick up the money.”

Neal’s excitement was so great that he missed nomination deadlines for Sushi Mango this week.

He said he will look to find a race for him in the next seven days but is not setting his sights too high.

“I’ve got to see what his grade is because I’ve never won a big race before,” Neal laughed.

“He’s a bread and butter dog. Hopefully we can pick up a few more races with him. I don’t really care if he doesn’t win another because he just picked up $40,000 and that takes his prize money total to just under $60,000.

“I’d like to see him go on and prove himself against better dogs but we’ll just see what happens.”