Hall kennel to make call on future of star dog Spotted Elk

By Jordan Gerrans

Experienced trainer Graham Hall is resigned to the prospect Queensland Greyhound of the Year Spotted Elk may not ever make it back to the track but is content that she has a bright future as a brood bitch.

As Spotted Elk’s litter sister Extra Malt qualified for the Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club 50th Anniversary Trophy on Thursday evening at headquarters, Hall is still unsure if the inaugural champion of the TAB Queensland Flame - Spotted Elk – will race again.

The winner of almost $240,000 in career stakes has not been seen at the races since early February following a stress fracture picked up at The Meadows.

Hall – who trains in partnership with wife Leanne – has been working vigorously at their Marburg kennel to get their bitch back to the races but questions still remain.

She had a post-to-post trial earlier this month but no definite return date is yet to be locked in.

“Because of her injury, we are still working her up at the moment,” Hall said.

“We are just testing her to make sure that she will stand up to racing, we are still not certain if she will.

“If there is any doubt about her ability to stand up, we will not race her again.”

If Spotted Elk can not add to her 40 career races – 17 of which she has won – then Hall is comfortable to call time and head towards retirement, where he believes she will be a valuable brood bitch.

It would be an emotional moment for the Halls if Spotted Elk were to be retired as the star bitch has lifted their kennel’s profile to national significance over the last year, running second in the TAB Phoenix in the middle of December last year.

“There is always questions around if they will get back with an injury like a stopper, they can have them today and not tomorrow, at this stage she is standing up to the work,” Hall said.

“Because she is a Free For All dog she has to come back in Free For All races, there is no easy race for her, so she needs to be running her times to know she is going to compete, otherwise there is no point.

“If she can’t come up to the times she was racing before she got injured, well then we probably won’t see her back.

“It will be sad if she does not get back to the track but she has potential as a brood bitch and there is a big future for her down the track.”

The 2022 TAB Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival was officially launched on Thursday evening at Albion Park.

Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club CEO Luke Gatehouse expects to see a big influx of high-level southern trainers descend on the Sunshine State over the coming weeks with record prize money on offer.  

“I was in Melbourne last week and there was a lot of interest from the trainers I spoke to on the night, obviously at Sandown it was a feature night and a lot of the big trainers had their eyes open to the winter carnival being on their calendars,’ Gatehouse said.

“It is going to be a very exciting carnival this year with plenty of increased prize money on offer.”

The winter carnival showcases 13 Group and Listed races, with more than $1.9 million in total prize money on offer across six feature evenings.

A stalwart of the code – Hall – believes the prize money on offer in the Sunshine State is significant all year round, not just for the feature period of the winter.  

“The prize money here in Queensland is as good – if not better – than anywhere else in Australia really,” Hall said.

“That is across all grades of racing, not just the feature and carnival time.

“It is a tremendous time of the year the carnival.

“It is a great time of the year for us as Queenslanders.”

Spotted Elk’s litter sister and fellow greyhound of the year nominee Extra Malt has been scorching the track at Ipswich of late and has taken that form to Albion Park, running second in a heat of the 50^th Anniversary Trophy on Thursday evening.

She now heads to the Final next Thursday where she has drawn box three.

Extra Malt won five on the bounce at Ipswich before returning to headquarters this week.

“She goes to the Final of the 50^th Anniversary Trophy and we will see how she goes after that,” Hall said.

“It would be a great race to win after she won the Anniversary trophy at Ipswich earlier this year for their 40^th milestone.

“There is plenty of races for her over the carnival and if she keeps herself up and going well, the Brisbane Cup is where we will go.

“We will see how it goes from week to week from here.”

The Hall kennel do not have massive winter carnival plans outside of their star litter sisters, with Hall declaring they are working with a number of young dogs who they have optimism around.

Thursday’s Group 3 Brisbane Young Guns over 520 metres was taken out by Gypsy Del while the Group 3 Carnival Chase was claimed by Brent Kline and his dog Keen.

Young Guns winner Gypsy Del will not take part in next week's 50th Anniversary Trophy after her connections declined an automatic entry into the Final.

Click here to read more about the 2022 TAB Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival.