Beckett’s graduating class heading south after Rockhampton Young Guns

By Pat McLeod

Central Queensland trainer Dallas Beckett will farewell his latest graduating class at the completion of the Rockhampton Young Guns Final over 407 metres on Wednesday night.

Beckett, a long-time member of the Rockhampton training fraternity, has three entries in the Young Guns and two – Little Spyro and Mini Star – will be heading back to Victoria next week.

“Those two and Legendary Spyro, who is out injured at the moment, all come from the same Speed Star and Little Bertha litter,” Beckett explains.

“They were sent to me by (long-time clients) Sonia and Craig Davis for pre-training and to start their race career.

“I am really happy with all three. They are still maturing, but are showing enough now to be good, competitive race dogs back down in Victoria.

“This has been a bit of an experiment, because normally it is the other way around. Dogs will be sent up here after they have started racing.

“But, this has worked out well and Craig and Sonia are about to send another three pups up that they say are showing lots of potential as well. So, we will see what happens.”

Beckett has the litter sisters and his own youngster, Grand Riku, in the Young Guns.

He rates all three as a chance, but says Mini Star is his best hope.

“For me, Wednesday night’s Young Guns comes down to a match-up between the one and the eight,” he predicts.

“Mini Star is perfectly boxed in the eight. She likes to race off the rail. She also has good early speed.

“The one, Mark Sure Can (trained by Christine Pollard), is a very good young dog and a quick beginner. I really think whichever of those two gets away the best is the likely winner and I expect it could turn out to be a duel between that pair.

“But, it is a dog race. My other two will be in it, so it will be interesting to see what happens.”

Beckett has earned a reputation as a trainer who can often correct wayward dogs.

Two of the stand outs over the years who fitted that category were Craig’s Regret, who was given to Beckett by the Davis’, and Twelve Plus Two, who Beckett bought for $700.

Both were ‘problem children’ who Beckett moulded into career greyhounds.

Craig’s Regret finished with 124 starts for 28 wins and 48 placings for $62,445 in prize money, while Twelve Plus Two tallied $52,407 from 94 starts for 42 wins and 30 placings.

“I enjoy bringing the best out of the dogs,” he said.

“I am happy to pass them on when they are older, still good race dogs as three-year-old's.

“The three that I have in the Young Guns are all good young dogs.

“I bought Grand Riku a couple of months ago and he is slowly getting better and better.”

Beckett maintains a seven dog kennel at Gracemere, just west of Rockhampton.

He says greyhound racing in the Central Queensland capital has never been as healthy as it is right now.

“The quality of race dogs here has never been as good as it is at the moment,” he says.

“A local dog has just won a very competitive Townsville Cup (Michael Boody’s More Peaches).

“We now have 12-race meetings and you still have 20 or 30 dogs missing out each week.

“We have the class of dog here now that will often go to Brisbane and win.

“So yes, overall it is as good, or better, than it has ever been before.”

In Monday’s greyhound meeting at Bundaberg, local trainer David Plummer took the honours in the Bundaberg Sprint Final over 460 metres with Smart And Classy.

The Hooked On Scotch - Vince A Bella chaser scored by a length and a half over Black Monaro (John Catton), with Alpha Humbug (Allan Thrower) third, in 25.86 seconds. 

Earlier in that program, De Vantier (Allen Kelly) won the Bundaberg Maiden 1000 Final over 460 metres in 26.98 seconds ahead of Different Drum (David Plummer) with Andromache (Peter Hare) third.