Cairns conditioner explains what matters to him in greyhound racing

By Pat McLeod

Wily country greyhound trainer Shane Mckenzie believes Don’t Matter Me is a good chance of winning Tuesday night’s Townsville Maiden 1000 Final over 380 metres, but his money won’t be on it.

“I would say he is the best dog in the field and if he gets the breaks he should win,” Mckenzie said.

“There’s not a lot of speed in the race and he isn’t a fast dog early, but finishes strongly.

“There’s good prize money for this race, so why risk money on the punt.”

And, that explains a lot about Mckenzie’s approach to training.

He admits to being ‘old school’, his greyhound training skills and nous sharpened by the need to make money on ‘the punt’.

“For many years prize money was as little as $60 or $80 for a win,” he said.

“You had to make money on the punt to survive in the game.”

What resulted for Mckenzie was an ability to see something in a dog that other’s couldn’t or to extract the best from a dog when other trainers were unable to.

The exciting challenge for him has always been to get a dog to perform at its best when few others believed that could be the case, especially the bookies.

Based in Cairns for most of his life as tiler, he has had a trainer’s licence since 1976 and has earned a reputation as someone who can get a dog to reach its peak.

“That is why I have always had a small team,” he explains.

“Never more than four. I like to spend plenty of time with each dog I have, making sure that dog gets to the best that it can be.”

Mckenzie isn’t necessarily after a champion racer, but preferably the dog that is under-performing and one that he can see potential in.

“I’m not interested in the dog that has just won three straight,” he says.

“And, most likely the owner wouldn’t want to be changing trainers if that was the case anyway. I get offered plenty of dogs. But, I want the one that I want.

“I want the dog that I can work on over weeks, get them to their best and win the race that the owner and I have targeted. Of course ‘that race’ could be any race, rarely a major feature, but a race we believe the dog can achieve.

“I love that challenge, and I have to admit, when the dog and I have achieved that challenge I am more than happy for the owner to move the dog on.

“I have done what I have wanted to do and I am happy for another trainer to get more wins out of the dog. I have never been in this game for the glory. That doesn’t interest me. Proving a dog has something that others don’t see or can’t get from a dog, is what I get excited about.”

McKenzie believes Don’t Matter Me has potential as his Maiden 1000 heat win was not ‘the race’ he was setting the dog for.

The Final may not be it either, although with prize money of $5,005 to the winner, would be a nice collect.

Mckenzie said he had taken on the dog because of good reports he had heard of the Fernando Bale and Eye Will Reign chaser.

However, being based in Cairns he asked if trusted Townsville trainer Lee Pearce could work with the dog and start him initially at the Townsville track.

The dog had two starts for two seconds with Pearce before being sent north to Mckenzie, who spent more than two months with the dog before the Maiden 1000 heat.

Don’t Matter Me has the fastest time of the finalists at 21.97 seconds over track and distance.

Mckenzie hinted what his eventual aim is with the dog.

“After Tuesday we will most likely put him up to 498 metres,” he said.

“I think he can be a good dog over that distance, but we will soon find out.”

Also on Tuesday night’s program at Townsville is the Anzac Day Trophy Final over 498 metres.