More Peaches confirms early potential with Townsville Cup win

By Pat McLeod

There is a strong possibility that most people in the Central Queensland rural hamlet of Dalma, population 77, knew immediately that local dog More Peaches had won the Townsville Cup just before 9.30pm on Friday night.

“I watched the race by myself at home,” Dalma resident Amber Boody said, who trains the dog with husband Michael, who was track side in Townsville.

“Well, I was amongst all our dogs and the cat. I started screaming and yelling, causing all the dogs to start howling and barking.

“Amanda came over to see if everything was OK when she heard all the dogs carrying on (Amanda Boody is the wife of Amber’s nephew and fellow trainer Ken Boody, who lives nearby).

“I always believed this dog would win a big race and Mick’s belief was even bigger than mine.”

More Peaches confirmed her early potential with a commanding win in the Group 2 $112,500 Townsville Cup Final over 498 metres.

The Sennachi - New Abode chaser jumped well and except for a brief, tight mid-race duel with Jemma Daley’s Hara’s Herbie, looked the winner for the entire journey.

More Peaches won in 28.60 seconds, one-and-a-quarter lengths ahead of Townsville’s Young Rob (trained by Robert Lound) with another local chaser, Balts Orson (Jay Schafer) third.

More Peaches had a scintillating start to her career, winning her first six starts.

That sixth win was the Rockhampton Cup Wildcard, which ushered the youngster through to a place in the Boodys’ local highlight feature race – the Rockhampton Cup.

The fairytale finish didn’t eventuate with More Peaches finishing seventh.

However, four months, and some vital maturity later, she claimed the $75,000-to-winner Townsville version.    

Making the win even more significant is the fact that Michael and Amber now have the ‘Full House’ of Queensland regional Cup wins.

“Friday night was certainly up there with the best nights that I have had in greyhound racing,” Amber said. 

“Before Friday night, the only Cup on the Queensland eastern coast, except for the South East corner, that we had not won was the Townsville Cup.

“So that certainly was a fulfilment.

“We had won the Cairns Cup with Izy Fast, we had won the Rockhampton Cup and the Bundaberg Cup with Amby's Love and the Mackay Cup with Regency Boy.

“So now we have ticked them all.”

Amber said More Peaches had suffered a hind foot laceration during the Townsville Cup win.

She would be given a couple of weeks to recover from that before being sent south for an assault on some major races including the Ipswich Futurity (Final on October 21) and the Ipswich Cup (Final on November 2).

The Townsville Cup Consolation went to last year’s Cup winner, Harold Hovi’s Redemption Day.

The champion regional campaigner was a convincing four-and-a-half lengths winner over Lily Monelli (Jedda Cutlack) with Chasing Fernando (Mark Partland) third. The winning time was 28.45 seconds. 

Townsville club President Gary Heath described Cup night as ‘a sensational success’.

“We had a bumper crowd, one of the biggest I have seen at the track,” Heath said.

“The Cup was a quality field and resulted in a great race. Greyhound racing in Townsville is really in a very good position.

“We have a strong fraternity of trainers and some very good greyhounds as was showcased on the night.”

Meanwhile, mighty Queensland chaser Days Of Thunder farewelled her racing career with a typical sizzling run home to place third in the National Distance Championship Final at The Meadows on Saturday night.

Owner Clint Gill and trainer Warren Nicholls announced before the Nationals that this would be the ‘White Wonder’s’ final track performance before going to the breeding barn.

She finishes her stella career with 19 wins and 20 placings from 68 starts and a prize money with tally of $321,350.

The Nationals distance crown went to NSW’s Palawa King (Raymond Smith), with Tasmania’s Fast Minardi (Paul Hili) second.

The National Sprint Championship Final was won by WA’s Saige Tenniele (Kody Charles), with Victorian pair Aussie Rocks (Geoff Mitchell) second and Tinker Norm (Craig Burns) third.

And, at Healesville on Saturday morning Victoria’s Unleash Collinda (Jason Thompson) proved once and for all he’s Australia’s ‘straight track king’ winning the $44,875 Group 3 National Straight Track Championship over 350 metres.

Second was another Victorian Maybe Yesterday (Andrew Paraskevas) with NSW’s Oscar Moses (Jason Magri) third.

Queensland’s Valhalla (Tom Tzouvelis) finished fifth and Jamie McHugh’s Bye Bye Raider was sixth.