"Happiest greyhound ever" in frame for Listed North Queensland Cup

By Jordan Gerrans

The old phrase goes: “happy wife, happy life”.

For North Queensland greyhound trainer Heath Ardle, the saying might go something like “happy dog, happy life”.

The Horseshoe Lagoon-based greyhound man was one of three winners of heats of the Listed North Queensland Cup on Tuesday evening at the Townsville Showgrounds, with recent kennel acquisition Urana Lot qualifying for the next weeks Final.

The black bitch has only been in Ardle’s kennel for a matter of weeks but she has quickly made an impression on Ardle.

“Ever since she has been at home, she is one of the happiest dogs I have ever had in my kennel,” Ardle said.

“She is always happy and wagging her tail.

“I do not know why she is that way but she is just a happy go-lucky dog to have around.”

The heat winner is owned by fellow NQ trainer Mark Partland, who prepared the bitch until only recently.

Partland runs Ingham Road Seafood in Townsville and with a busy period coming up work wise, he handed some of his kennel over to Ardle.

The move has worked wonders with Urana Lot as she has won three from four efforts in that time.

Mark’s wife Louise Partland is the on-course photographer for the Townsville Greyhound Racing Club and backed up Ardle’s thoughts.

“She is a beautiful girl,” Louise said of Urana Lot. 

With Ardle looking after a Partland owned and trained, the favour will be given back in the coming weeks.

Ardle is set to go away for two weeks soon, where the Partlands will look after his kennel of racing dogs.

“He is a good bloke to get along with, Mark is,” Ardle said.

Urana Lot is likely to transfer back to her original trainer by the end of the year.

Urana Lot claimed the opening heat of the three in 28.96 seconds from the red alley on Tuesday night.

The victory was full of merit as the bitch led in the early stages from the nice draw before being headed and shuffled back to third at one stage before fighting back in the straight to score.

She defeated the two favourites in the market – Paw Baby and Flash Fever – in the process.

Ardle – who works as a farmer with pumpkin and corn away from his greyhound interests – had confidence in the bitch leading into the 498 metre contest.

“I thought she was a very good chance before the heats,” he said.

“I have only had her for four starts – which she has now won three of those – and I put her over 498 metres after she won the first two 380 metre races for me.

“She was last going down the back straight last week in her first try over 498 metres for me and she ended up running home well for fourth.

“She has a serious motor.”

Ardle prepares his kennel of 10 dogs in the rural Burdekin area of North Queensland.

He has 10 acres where he uses sprint lanes and a straight track to get the greyhounds ready for their upcoming assignments.  

Ardle has had some luck in recent years in big NQ Finals and he is hopeful it can continue at Listed level next week.

He secured the Sprint Final with Bye Clown Town on Townsville Cup night last year.

The now retired Swap Ya ran second in the Townsville Cup of 2017 for the Ardle kennel.

Swap Ya won 25 races for $125,269 in career stakes before running his last race – which he won – in October of 2017.

The trainer is hopeful Urana Lot can be competitive in the Final is she can come up with a good draw on Friday afternoon when the boxes are declared.

“Hopefully she gets around safely, that is all I care about,” he said.

The other heats were claimed by Ken Boody's Zip Stream in the quickest of the three races in 28.66 seconds, while champion local dog man Bradley Belford won the last of the trio with Showtime Joe.

The Listed North Queensland Cup for 2022 is worth $25,000 with $15,600 going the way of the winner next Tuesday evening.