By Alex Nolan
Queensland’s TAB Origin Greyhound team has followed in the footsteps of their rugby league counterparts to deliver a famous series victory for the home state at Albion Park on Thursday night.
In the same mould as Queensland’s rugby league heroes, the home side claimed the opener when Days Of Thunder scored a well-earned victory in the Origin Distance over 710 metres for trainer Warren Nicholls.
New South Wales squared the ledger through warm favourite Good Odds Cash with a dominant victory in the Origin Sprint over 520 metres.
It set up a mouth-watering decider between Shipwreck and star New South Wales chaser Zipping Kyrgios, where the local hope had been heavily backed to win in the preceding 24 hours.
A healthy crowd at Albion Park roared as Shipwreck matched motors with Zipping Kyrgios in the early stages then endured a tough run to his outside throughout.
But, the Ned Snow-trained son of Out Of Range’s strength came to the fore late as he stormed clear to win in 29.69 seconds.
The win saw Queensland victorious for the first time since the inaugural series in 2018, with rugby league great and celebrity coach Ben Hannant on hand to raise the shield in celebration.
A proud Queenslander, Snow said helping deliver his state an Origin series win was a memorable moment.
“They told me if the other bloke led, I wouldn’t get him, when the other bloke pulled away I thought ‘we’ll see here’ but he was so strong,” Snow said.
The win reaffirmed what Snow already knew about this year’s Vince Curry Memorial Maiden winner – that he’s a special conveyance – and has given him the confidence to cast his eye further south.
“We might go down for the Million Dollar Chase now,” he said.
“We’ll give him a couple of trials down there first and see what happens.”
Days Of Thunder’s trainer Nicholls was equally thrilled to be part of the series, as his diminutive stayer stormed home to claim the Distance race.
It was redemption for Days Of Thunder, who came within a half-length of a famous last-to-first win in last week’s Group 1 Queensland Cup at Albion Park.
Settling closer than she had in recent times, Days Of Thunder was forced to weave a passage to the inside of gun NSW stayers Zipping Kansas and Super Estrella.
Once clear, her late strength was on full display and she cleared out to score by two lengths in 41.85 seconds.
“I think she’s deserved it after last week, it was a more than fair effort,” Nicholls said.
“On the home turn there was a road-block there, but I was happy knowing she had settled closer.”
Nicholls said he would target a staying race at Ipswich next before setting his sights on the Nationals and Sydney Cup.
“She’s been to Sydney three or four times, albeit unsuccessfully, but she’s seen it and we might have a different dog this time around,” Nicholls said.
“She’s got a huge heart … dogs like her don’t come along all the time.”
Sporting the blue jumper at Wednesday night’s State Of Origin at Lang Park, the win provided some relief for Nicholls who was still stinging after a heavy defeat in the league.
“Wearing this maroon hat stings a little,” he said.
“But, I can’t tell the owners we’re not going in the race because I’m not a Queenslander.
“The whole thing is huge, just to be part of it.
“What Racing Queensland and the club has done has been super.”
One of the proudest men in maroon on Thursday night was Hannant, who claimed his first series win as “coach” in just his second year and was in awe of Shipwreck’s breathtaking match-race win.
“With the Origin last night, this is the icing on the cake,” he said.
“He came home strong just like Queensland did last night.”
It wasn’t all bad news for Blues fans after Good Odds Cash made full use of box one to win the Origin Sprint by more than five lengths in 29.81 seconds, beating home last week’s Brisbane Cup victor Orchestrate.
Legendary trainer Frank Hurst said: “It’s a great race and a great feature.”
“This is the second or third time I’ve been here but the first time I’ve had a win.”