Extra care from Danny Preh delivers North Queensland Cup win

By Jordan Gerrans

Townsville trainer Danny Preh’s caring nature for his team of racing greyhounds has been applauded following his maiden black-type victory of his career.

Preh’s Plum Tuckered rounded the field in dramatic fashion to score in the Listed North Queensland Cup on Tuesday evening. 

If the NQ Cup victory was not already significant enough for the Kelso-based Preh, he also had kennel mate Spitfire Rhodes run into third place in the 498 metre feature event.

With just a small team of chasers in work in his kennel, Preh filled two of the top three places in a prestigious race for regional trainers in the Sunshine State.

Plum Tuckered is owned by Ipswich-based mates Luke Harm and Andrew Woodford.

The brindle bitch was racing well in South East Queensland earlier in her career but since being sent north to Preh, Harm feels she has gone to another level with the Townsville mentor’s care and affection.

“Danny has been outstanding,” Harm said.

“He spends so much time with her one-on-one as she is a funny dog, she really thrives on that personal time.

“Danny is always sending us photos and videos of him patting her to sleep at night. He is doing so much one-on-one work with her.

“We saw that when we went to Townsville earlier this year and met his family and had a look around the kennel. We know she is well looked-after in Townsville, which is the most important thing.

“At times trainers with a lower profile do not get the good dogs that the big name trainers get and we have now seen how much time he has put into his dogs – we are so happy for him to win this race. It is his first feature win, it is awesome.”

Plum Tuckered qualified for the Group 2 Townsville Cup earlier this year – which Woodford and Harm travelled north to watch in person - but did not figure in the finish.

She has been a revelation since relocating north, regularly peppering the track records at the 498 and 380 metre journeys at Townsville.

The daughter of Fernando Bale began from the four alley on Tuesday evening and missed the start.

She was last in the early stages before finding the rail.

When they turned for home, she hooked around the field to go right around the leaders to score in a best of the night 28.82 seconds.

Plum Tuckered is small in stature and only light in weight so part-owner Harm thought her Cup chances were dwindling during the race.

“It was a huge run by her, I think her fitness right now is as good as it has ever been,” Harm said.

“She finished it off really strongly after getting herself in a bit of trouble, which she has a tendency to do.

“She had enough run in her to come over the top. She did look in a bit of trouble and had a lot of work to do, but she finished off like a freight train.

“It was great. It took her a while to hit her straps and mature but she seems to be racing as well as she ever has.”

The 2023 NQ Cup was also the biggest win for the ownership group of Woodford and Harm.

The pair have been in greyhounds for around a decade and previously raced the now-retired Power Moves.

Power Moves was placed at Group 3 and Listed level in a great career that accumulated 17 victories.

“It is the biggest thrill we have ever had with a win, it is just awesome doing it with Danny,” Harm said of Tuesday’s win.

“She has the most ability out of any dog we have owned.

“Danny was so happy we won it and we were all so excited. It all went perfect.”

Woodford and Harm also have Trixie Rigatoni that they own in Preh’s kennel.

Following Tuesday’s black-type victory, the ownership group are considering bringing Plum Tuckered back to South East Queensland to race for higher honours but are yet to make any concrete plans around the bitch’s program going forward.

Meanwhile, leading local dog man Bradley Belford had a night out on Tuesday at Townsville, preparing three winners across the program.