Blue night for Maroons as NSW’s big guns find their range

By Pat McLeod

New South Wales’ greyhound top guns not only blitzed Queensland in an Origin Greyhound Series 3-0 whitewash at Albion Park on Thursday night, but left the home team with a worrying after-taste.

With the 2024 Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival about to roll out its major highlights, the visitors have timed their form run perfectly while the local stars have questions to answer.

The Blues’ superstars, Palawa King (trained by Raymond ‘Jack’ Smith) and Mackenna (Michelle Sultana), both upstaged their Queensland headline rivals, Valpolicella (Tony Zammit) and Jay Is Jay (Selena Zammit).

However, it was emerging star Overflow Beau (Craig Chappelow) who stole the limelight on a thrilling Origin night.

“I always knew how good he was, but he proved that,” Chappelow said.

Overflow Beau dominated the Origin Sprint over 520 metres, winning by five and three-quarters of a length in a sensational 29.59 seconds. 

“He won a Group 3 up at Dubbo (the Brother Fox), a (Group 3) Rising Stars here, but he showed against some good dogs just how good he is," Chappelow said. 

“The (Group 1) Brisbane Cup was always the aim and he showed he is a serious contender.”

Overflow Beau found the line strongly ahead of Frank Hurst’s Good Odds Cobber with Selena Zammit’s All Natural in third.

It was an emotional night for Chappelow, from Oakdale in NSW, with that result sealing the Origin trophy win after Palawa King had earlier won the opening leg, the Origin Distance Final over 710 metres.

“To come out and run that time and win justifies my belief in the dog,” Chappelow said.

“It was special being in a team environment as part of the Origin series, but it was also special to have my dad, Ken, here with me.

“We used come up together all the time, but he hasn’t been here since 2005, when Frosty Fruits was beaten a head in the Futurity.”

Also making the long trek home on Friday, from Albion Park to Forbes in NSW, was Maree Smith, no doubt still wearing a million-dollar smile.

Maree and husband ‘Jack’ Smith’s distance sensation Palawa King ticked over the $1 million dollars in prize money (now $1,004,945) with Thursday night’s victory over an impressive Fahey’s Magic (Tyson Barton), with Valpolicella (Tony Zammit) third, in 41.93 seconds. 

“I gave him the instructions, ‘Just get to the rail, do your thing and get past that one-million-dollar-mark’. And, that's what he did,” Maree laughed after the race.

“That was special because he crept over the million dollars and he has now won this race two years in a row and I think that is a pretty significant feat just by itself.

“It is just so exciting to have a dog like this. We used to race around the country tracks for a couple of hundred dollars and think we were in the big time.

“And, now we have a dog that's ticked over the one million dollars. It is just unbelievable to think a dog could do that. But, he is a superstar.”    

Valpolicella’s third placing also inched her past the million-dollar-mark, with her prize money now at $1,002,495.

Although the Origin Shield had already been decided, there was still plenty of interest in the Mackenna (box one) v Jay Is Jay (box three) Origin match race.

The two dogs did not disappoint with a titanic battle right to the line with Mackenna prevailing by three-quarters of a length in 30 seconds. 

“She (Mackenna) deserved to be here,” a delighted Michelle Sultana said.

“She hasn't had much luck since she's been here, but she has proven herself. The time wasn't there, but it is what it is.

“That run has definitely given her a confidence boost and I think she actually needed a confidence boost.  It was a classic match race.

“We knew these two dogs are as good as each other and that Jay had a lot of pace down the back. We knew that she just had to stick on. She did, but he actually got in front of her and I was a bit worried, but she kicked back.

“From where I was standing I did not think she had won, but Mick (Zammit) assured me that she had.”

The Origin night at Albion Park actually started well for the Maroons with Jeff Crawford’s Bootin’ Boodie an impressive winner in the Regional Origin Challenge over 520 metres.

Not part of the official Origin Greyhound Series, ‘regional’ finalists won through from heats at Ipswich (for Queensland) and Grafton (NSW).

Although wearing Queensland colours, Crawford said he was happy to ‘have a foot either side of the border’.

“I moved up from NSW in 2015,” Crawford explained.

Crawford outlined that he was surprised and delighted to have a piece of the $19 on offer for Bootin’ Boodie.

“I was certainly cheering for her," Crawford said. 

“I thought she was very close to a good thing in that race. She is going very well. I haven't looked too far ahead of this race, but in her run home in the heat at Ipswich, that told us she would run 600 metres and possibly longer.

“I got pretty excited about that. But, after this she will probably stay at this distance for a little while.

“We are going on holidays for a couple of weeks and when we get back from that we may have to reassess then.”

Among those to push their Winter Carnival aspirations outside of Thursday night’s Origin flavoured races, included Melbourne visitor Lakeview Emily, who backed up her Flying Amy Classic second placing with a scorching 29.62 second win in a 520 metre Brisbane Cup Prelude.

Under the care of South East Queensland master trainer Tony Brett, the youngster has now proven to be a genuine Brisbane Cup contender.

Another visitor in Brett’s care, South Australian distance chaser Lena Jinx also impressed, scoring a smart win over the 710 metres in 41.77 seconds. 

In the second Brisbane Cup Prelude Sandra Hunt’s Kahlo Hayze stormed back into form with a powerful finish to salute in 29.82 seconds. 

As caller John ‘Bunny’ Brasch declared: “Kahlo Hayze is back and she has taken a few big scalps with her’.

Those scalps included WA’s Sunset Frazier (Tony Apap), who placed second, and Michelle Sultana’s Fear The Dragon (third).