The Queenslander launching herself to new heights

By Alex Nolan

Samona has already launched the training career of young Joshua Priest and now she’s launching herself onto the national spotlight in Victoria.

Back-to-back second-placed finishes through heats and semi-finals of the Group 3 Launching Pad at Sandown Park will see the Queenslander start from box six in next Thursday’s Final for caretaker trainer Brendan Pursell.

By Ritza Lenny out of It’s A Synch, Samona is a winner of six from 29 and has collected more than $25,000 in prize money for her connections.

But, she’s much more than that for the Priest family.

While Joshua was well-known as an enthusiastic participant by most in the local greyhound ranks, Samona put his name in the spotlight when she saluted at Albion Park in November last year to give the young trainer his first winner.

Proud father and one of Capalaba’s leading trainers Terry Priest said that moment was one he would never forget.

“The syndicate we’re involved in made a pact that they wanted to be a part of the first dog Josh trained and that happened to be Samona,” Priest said.

“They were on the phone instantly when she won for him and had a tear in their eye. John Brasch’s call was enormous too, the way he supports young people in racing is awesome.

“Josh had put in all the hard yards in the past six months and to have a long-term plan come off is pretty hard in this game.

“I don’t think the penny has dropped, it’s just starting to. She’s turning into a decent race dog and making the right decisions.”

Transferred to Pursell’s Lara kennels for the Launching Pad, Samona has exceeded expectations throughout the series.

Sent out at $26 in her heat, Samona was locked in a battle for the lead as the greyhounds turned out of the back straight before her combatant ‘failed to pursue’ and knocked her off course.

She rallied to finish second but Priest believes she should have progressed to the semi's as a winner.

“The racing gods weren’t kind to us,” he said.  

“That’s racing though and plenty of them play up these days. However, she backed up nicely and ran a good race again last night and she’s through to the final.  

“Fingers crossed we can have a bit of luck and maybe podium but it’s going to be hard."

TAB Phoenix winner Wow She’s Fast is drawn directly to Samona’s outside in box seven, while other impressive heat winner Plaintiff is well boxed in two.

TAB have installed Samona a $31 outside chance of winning the big Final next Thursday night, while Wow She’s Fast ($2.40) and Plaintiff ($3.50) head the betting.

“We’ll need a Bradbury,” Priest said.

“The box is not kind, being inside Wow She’s Fast but she’s made it and we’re very happy.

Priest said Samona would return to Queensland to be trained by Josh again in the near future.

However, they all agree that should she continue to measure up down south, they would be mad to pass up further opportunities to race her there.

“The Sapphire Crown is next month … I’m not sure if she’s in the best 32 but hope she’d be pretty close,” Priest said.

“We really want to have her back for Josh to train but she’s starting to light up the track a bit so it would be silly not to go after these races.

“He knows she will come back to him and she could also give him the chance to travel with her if she proves she’s up to the mark, which is something we all want to do as trainers.”