Vaughan’s need for speed is squeezing out his day job

By Pat McLeod

Michael Vaughan’s passion for speed is forcing him to rethink the hours he spends on his ‘day job’.

The 66-year-old mechanic from Rosewood, near Ipswich, has had a lengthy involvement in motor racing and still competes in drag racing at the nearby Willowbank Raceway.

However, in recent years he has divided that interest with greyhound racing.

“I am really enjoying greyhound racing a lot, to the point where I want to devote more time to that sport,” Vaughan says.

“I run my own business. I am a motor mechanic by trade and have had my own business for the past 20 years in Rosewood.

“But, I am scaling that back so I can spend more time with the dogs.

“I race cars as well. I have a drag racing car that I race at Willowbank Raceway.

“Soon there will be both tracks right on my doorstep."

The Q, the new headquarters of greyhound racing in Queensland, is scheduled to be completed next year and is situated in the nearby area.

“In some ways the two are very similar, but there is more money in greyhound racing than there is in cars," Vaughan said. 

That was certainly the case on Sunday when Vaughan’s Then Came You took out the QGOLD Final for bitches at Capalaba, which resulted in a first-place windfall of $10,010.

The win ended a sensational eight-race campaign for the Worm Burner and Emilia Magic chaser on the straight track – six wins and a second for $20,055 in prize money.

“I was very happy with that win,” Vaughan said.

Then Came You accounted for Indiana Wind (trained by Darryl Mcgrath) with Caramel Queen (Tom Tzouvelis) third in the QGOLD feature.

“She has been doing very well lately," Vaughan said.

“It was a pretty good field and I was worried about a couple of other dogs in the race, but she was good enough to stay out of trouble.”

Vaughan said he would now turn the dog’s attention to ‘the circle’.

“That will probably be the end of her Capalaba campaign for a while,” he said.

“She was third grade and will probably now be open class.

“We will take her to the circle and start working on her there and see how she goes.

“We have trialed her a couple of times on the circle, but because she has been going so well at Capalaba we have focused on the straight track up until now.

“We will dedicate a bit more time to the circle. Hopefully she will get to the 520 metres on the circle.

“I'd like to see how she goes on both Ipswich and Albion Park and see which one suits her the best.”

Vaughan said the future appeared promising for the lightly-raced Then Came You after a delayed start to her racing career.

“She came into season just after she was broken in and that put her four months behind some of the other dogs,” he said.

“It would have been great to have had her up and ready for the current Ipswich carnival, but that just wasn't to be.

“But, we tend to be a little bit cautious with our dogs and take our time. We don't like to push them.”

Sunday’s QGOLD Final for male dogs was taken out by the current King Of Capalaba, Tom Tzouvelis’ Valhalla, who scored by a length and a quarter over Jay Mac (Jemma Daley) with Robert Dacey’s Daysea’s Sam in third.