Britton family break new ground in Queensland

By Jordan Gerrans

The leading Britton greyhound racing clan have broken new ground in the Sunshine State by opening a brand new satellite kennel.

The Queensland-based kennel will be operated by Tim Britton and Martina Kirillidis out of Churchable and will contain a racing team of around a dozen dogs at all times.

The new northern operation will be on top of the Brittons' already large team in Victoria.

The satellite kennel for the Britton family is a first for the greyhound code in Queensland.

While interstate trainers setting up satellite operations are common place in the gallops and harness racing, the Brittons are breaking new ground with their plans. 

As champion dog man Rob Britton details, the idea behind the new Sunshine State facility is that it will be focused solely on racing.

There will be no pre-training, whelping or breeding pursuits, with all efforts put into winning races in Queensland.

“They are a racing team only,” Rob said.

“If we concentrate on racing up there only, then I think we will be able to manage it well.

“As those other things in the greyhound racing industry can be time consuming where as we want this kennel to be racing focussed.”

If a dog needs time away from the track or a break from racing, they will head back to Victoria to the Brittons' Lara premises.

The Britton team were big players through the recent Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival and flagged the possibility of the new operation at the time.

While they did not walk away with any major features during the 2023 rich winter period, they proved to be competitive throughout.

“We have certainly talked about doing something here. It would be nice to have a satellite operation,” Tim Britton said in the middle of July.

“The money is as good or even better than back at home. We will definitely keep an option open as to coming here in some way.

“I would be happy to come up here every weekend and race.”

The Brittons have purchased a property at Churchable which was previously used as a greyhound training facility by Steve Scott.

“Tim and Martina will run it and they will have some help as well,” Rob said.

“We have got great kennels, they are air-conditioned and we need to make sure we will manage it well.”

Tim, Rob and Jeff Britton will all contribute to the new northern team.

The first lot of dogs arrived last week and the family had representation at Albion Park on their Thursday program. 

They will have three more start on Thursday evening across the meeting: Cast It In, Dirt Farmer and Fast Milkman.

Rob notes that the family will need to adapt the selected team of dogs to race in Queensland around how they fit into the local grading system.  

“Anything that I own, they will go to Queensland, regardless of their ability,” Rob said.

“I will continue to train dogs in Victoria that other people own.

“My brother is in the same boat and he will send up the dogs that he owns.

“Most of the dogs we have now are older dogs and they are at the free for all level up in Queensland so we need to bring some younger dogs through so they can go through their grades. We will learn that over the coming months as we go.”

According to Rob, there are a few reasons why they have opted for the new Queensland kennel.

Increased prize money on offer and the Sunshine State’s soon-to-be-home of greyhound racing at The Q stand out to the champion trainer.

An incredible $3.3 million in prize money was up for grabs across the recent winter carnival, which was headlined by the prestigious Brisbane Cup that boasted a staggering $1 million in total prize money for the first time.

The Q has been unveiled as the future home of Queensland greyhound racing at its new home at Purga in Ipswich.

The Q is estimated to be completed next year.

“There is a couple of reasons for us doing it, one of them is that Queensland seems to be absolutely booming with the dogs at the moment,” Rob said.

“The fact that there is a new track that will not be far away from that property and they will be racing there almost every day of the week, it is a good move in that respect for us.

“Not only that, the weather is sensational through the winter in Queensland and I experienced that when I was up last year for the carnival.”