Graham set for an early Father’s Day celebration at 'The Creek'

By Pat McLeod

Northern NSW trainer Col Graham is looking forward to Thursday night’s greyhound meeting at Albion Park for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, his very promising King Of Aces (Hooked On Scotch - Distant Star) will exit box four in the second heat of the age-restricted Molly Campbell Silver Dollars over 520 metres just before 9pm.

Also, his two sons, Andrew and Daniel, will be track side and have promised him a Father’s Day steak dinner at the adjacent, iconic Breakfast Creek Hotel.

“They are good boys, always have been,” Graham says with pride.

“They might even shout the dinner, but I won’t hold my breath.”

In fact, they could both afford to shout Dad the most expensive steak on the menu on the back of some very astute breeding by Graham across the years.

“For a long time, every time we breed a litter I give a pup to each of the boys,” Graham explains.

“And, of course, more times than not they are the ones that turn out to be the best.

“I remember Andy getting one called Hanify’s Impact. It trialled sensationally at Lismore and someone bought her straight away for $47,000."

The dog went on to win almost $150,000 in prize money.

“It was the same story with another pup called Seek And Destroy," Graham said.

"Again, trialled really well and was sold for $40,000. He went on to win the Group 1 Association Cup at Wentworth Park.

“Dan had Elusive Desire, a very good dog ($122,446 in prize money from 106 starts).

“It’s great to have an interest that the boys share. Andy works in finance and is based at Nambour. He trained for a while a few years back, but he is back into it now and is on his way to getting his trainer’s licence again.”

The family ownership continues. Daniel owns King Of Aces and Andrew was given litter brother Distant Flash.

Those two and another from the litter, Loving Smile, all made the 2023 Final of the prestigious Grafton Winter Carnival Maiden Classic, with King Of Aces the best-placed at third.

Graham gives King Of Aces a good chance on Thursday night, ‘if the others leave him alone’.

“He is turning into a very good young race dog,” he said.

“He is a bit tardy early, but has a real motor when he gets going. But, he needs a bit of space early.

“If he keeps improving how he should, than he could be the best dog that I have trained.”

The 69-year-old Graham who with his wife Marilyn, is based on a five-acre property north of Casino, has been involved in greyhounds since he was 17.

“My involvement in greyhounds started many years ago when my cousin, Ron Brown, came to Kyogle to play football,” he says.

“Ron had greyhounds and that’s how I started.

“I bred some really nice litters over the years, but about eight years ago I decided to start to ease back and threw the whelping box away.

“But, then I bought the mother of this current litter, Distant Star, and her litter sister, Inspire Us. They had won one race each down in Victoria. We paid $5000 each for them."

Distant Star won 17 races and the sister won 23.

“They are from a beautiful dam line and I knew I had to breed from them. So, I built another whelping box," Graham said. 

“Distant Star has another litter by Aston Rupee at home and they are about eight months old.

“And, Inspire Us also has a litter that is about 10 months old by Flying Ricciardo. They are all very good pups.”