Trainer Ken Boody keen to add Rockhampton Cup to his run of hot form

By Jordan Gerrans

Being made redundant from his job in the mines is the best thing that could have happened for the greyhound training ambitions of Ken Boody.

He has been around dogs for much of his life – being based in Brisbane and Mackay – as his family members have trained while he has also been heavily involved.

Now focusing all his energy back into the dogs over the last couple of years, Boody has taken the industry by storm in Central Queensland and now has Rockhampton Cup hopes next month.

He trained a career-best seven winners on the same day in the first month of this year, including a clean sweep of the Country Cup heats, and regularly picks up multiple winners across Rockhampton programs. 

The Boody kennel claimed the Rockhampton Greyhound Racing Club Greyhound of the Year with Love You Peaches earlier this year.

One title that eluded Boody last year was Trainer of the Year in Rockhampton, which went to his close mate Darren Taylor for the most recent campaign. 

"Ken has been going well and I often tell him people that I taught him everything he knows," Taylor said with a chuckle on Wednesday. 

Boody and his red-hot dog Zip Stream claimed the Rockhampton Wildcard earlier this month, putting the in-form bitch straight through to the Final, bypassing this Friday’s heats.

Zip Stream ran out the 510-metre Cup journey in 29.93 seconds last Wednesday and Boody believes the Wildcard concept is perfect for regional kennels.

The new event is for locally trained greyhounds and provides the winner with automatic entry into the Group 3 Rockhampton Cup Final.

With a strong contingent of South East Queensland trainers set to descend on the beef capital of Australia this week for the heats, Boody thinks races like the Wildcard are key for the local industry.

“It is an unbelievably great concept this one the Wildcard,” he said.

“It is the best thing for country racing that has been introduced in some time.

“It is tough for us because every year the southern trainers come to Rocky and they are lengths too fast for us and this race gives us here a realistic chance in the Final.”

Zip Stream’s stunning form of late underlines just how prolific the Boody kennel has been over the last couple of years since the trainer opted to train on a full-time basis.

Since the calendar clicked over to 2022, the black bitch has won 12 of her 13 starts and in the race she did not claim victory, she ran second.

Being assisted in his training pursuits by his uncle and aunty Mick and Amber, as well as wife Amanda, Boody has developed and improved his kennel over the last few years, adding a bull-ring and sprint lanes to his Dalma-based property.

With his children older than when he was previously training and with more time on his hands, Boody felt he was ready to now chase permanent training, following being made redundant from his job in the mines.

“This was my chance to have a go and see how we went with the dogs, I wanted to have a good crack at it and see if we could make a living out of it," he said.

“If I could not make it work I would have to go find another job but a bit of time on, we are still afloat.

“I wanted to have a crack because that is eventually what I wanted to do with myself, this just pushed my hand. It seems to be working well.”

Now not needing to run in Friday’s Cup heats, Boody will give Zip Stream a post-to-post at the Callaghan Park-based track on the same day to keep her ticking over.

Previously trained by Pamela Field in the south of Queensland before landing with Boody, Zip Stream was dominate over the 407-metre journey in Rockhampton before he opted to step her up in trip.

“She started out in lower grades and she has just built her confidence since then,” Boody said.

“There was nothing in particular that we did with her, maybe she just adapted to our training style.

“We do not work our dogs overly hard, I am not sure if we have improved her, but I think getting her in easier company helped, as she has always had the ability.

‘She does not do much between runs.”

Boody is glad to be able to have one from his team already through to the 2022 Group 3 Rockhampton Cup Final as he was blown away with the strength of nominations from Brisbane trainers when fields were released.

With Zip Stream already locked into the Final, the Boody kennel has five other chances spread across the four heats on Friday afternoon, hoping to add to get as many runners in the decider as possible.

Promising youngster Dixie Gambles – who has just turned two – is Boody’s best chance to win a heat this Friday, the trainer believes, as well as Country Cup champion from earlier this year, Love You Peaches.

“She is doing everything right since she has joined us, she just keeps improving every week,” he said of Dixie Gambles, who will contest the second of the four heats.

“She has drawn a tough heat – there is no easy heats really – but her and Love You Peaches have drawn brilliantly, where they need to be.

“The rest of my ones are stuck in the middle or drawn really hard heats, so they might struggle. Hopefully, we can qualify another dog.”

Blue bitch Love You Peaches is on the comeback trail after suffering an injury in the Bundaberg Cup earlier this year and has drawn the inside alley in the last of the four heats.

The Rockhampton Cup will be run for $60,000 in 2022, with $40,000 going to the winner.