Redemption Day back to his best for Townsville Cup tilt

Images: Louise Partland

By Jordan Gerrans

Perseverance has most certainly paid off for the North Queensland kennel of veteran trainer Harold Hovi.

Hovi’s kennel star - Redemption Day – is the first greyhound through to the 2022 Final of the Townsville Cup after taking out the inaugural edition of the Townsville Wildcard on Wednesday evening.

Introduced this year, the Wildcard series gives northern city trainers – such as Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Townsville – with a direct entry into their local Cup Finals.

After Hovi’s Excuse Me Jack ran in the money in last year's Cup, he returns this time around with Redemption Day, who is nearing the peak form he showed as a youngster.

Redemption Day came from back in the field to overturn race favourite Paulie Walnuts – prepared by leading local dog man Bradley Belford – in the concluding stages to snatch victory.

Hovi – who works on a cattle property two hours south of Townsville for a day job – was a pleased man on Thursday morning following the result.

“I thought it was bloody good,” Hovi – who is referred to as ‘the magic man’ in North Queensland dogs circles - said with a laugh.

“I was really happy, to be quite honest.

“He is not a hard dog to train; he is very easy to deal with.”

The experienced trainer (pictured above with his wife Desma) would have wondered at times if Redemption Day was ever going to get back to his best after a shoulder concern forced him away from the track for a lengthy period.

He was half a dozen victories from seven starts before injury struck and in the only race he did not win - he ran third.

He was not een at the track between early August and the middle of December last year.

And, since then, the black dog has only been lightly raced, as well.

Hovi has always thought Redemption Day was a Cup level dog in terms of his quality and preference at the distance, but following a shoulder injury where he tore a muscle, the trainer needed to slowly build the emerging dog's confidence.

“It was just a lot of patience and time, waiting for him to heal,” Hovi recalls.

“It took months for it to heal.

“He seems to be back to his best now.

“That first start he had over the 498 metres was just brilliant in his early days and that was what convinced us to persist with him during the injury.”

From a My Redeemer and Fancy Dancer litter, Redemption Day was sent to Darren Taylor’s kennel in Rockhampton earlier this year, which Hovi hoped would freshen his mind up and help rebuild his attitude following injury.

“That was about getting him a bit more confidence,” Hovi said.

“The thought was that the change of scenery may help him.”

While he only won one of his four efforts in Central Queensland with Taylor, Redemption Day has certainly hit the ground running with Hovi, finishing second in the Wildcard heat before claiming the Final.

The Group 3 Townsville Cup Final will be run on September 9, with Hovi and his chaser bypassing the heats.

He thinks he will trial Redemption Day before the Cup, but will not start him in another race to keep him fresh for the big one.

Hovi backed the Townsville Wildcard concept, which is part of the Townsville Cup program for the first time in 2022.

“I think it is one of the best things that has come up in racing up here in recent years,” he said.

“It is fantastic to ensure that a local dog is in the Cup.”

Excuse Me Jack – who is a litter brother to Redemption Day – ran third in the Townsville Cup Final last year and has since been retired to stud.

Gumlu trainer Hovi only trains a small team of dogs at his cattle property – based between Home Hill and Bowen in the north of the state – focusing on quality over quantity when it comes to kennel numbers.

As he is set to retire from his work commitments later this year, Hovi said he would consider taking on an increased number of dogs when he had more time on his hands.

While Belford could not get his dog through to the Cup in the Wildcard, it was still a prolific night for his kennel, winning four of the dozen races on offer.

Rhonda Essery also collected a winning double across the card.