O’Reilly takes on Get Carter for one final throw of the dice

By Pat McLeod

Experienced trainer Peter O’Reilly has agreed to a final throw of the dice with enigmatic, but highly gifted sprinter, Get Carter.

The Ipswich conditioner will lead the veteran speedster out to a Best 8 (520m) contest at Albion Park on Thursday night.

O’Reilly isn’t tipping a miracle turnaround in Get Carter’s fortunes. He’s just happy to follow the wishes of his life-long mate, fellow trainer Grant Franklin, the dog’s owner and career trainer.

“Grant was going to retire Get Carter,” he explains.

“The dog hasn’t been going very well and he was around at my place with him and said ‘Do you want to have a go with him?’

“I told him that I was happy to, although as I said, I don't think it will make much difference.

“At the moment he has a slight stopper bone injury, which I think could be slowing him down.

“I did some work on the injury the other day and that seemed to take the heat out of it and It seems to be alright.

“I told Grant that I would give him a go for a month and just see what happens.”

Like most who have seen Get Carter in action over the past two years, O’Reilly has been both amazed and frustrated by the dog’s performances.

“There is no doubt that at his best get Carter could beat almost any dog,” he reflects.

“His run home has been his biggest asset.

“He could do anything on the right night.”

To date Get Carter has raced 73 times for 12 wins and 36 placings for a prize money collect of $165,755.

O’Reilly recalls Franklin telling him how the dog went from being ‘pretty ordinary’ to ‘performing extremely well’ in what seemed the blink of an eye.

Get Carter’s ‘debut’ in the limelight was winning the Qgold Emerging Sprinter’s Final at Albion Park in May last year, ahead of Travis Elson’s Bear’s Bullet.

But his defining moment - a second place - came just five months later in the Group 1 Ipswich Gold Cup.

Get Carter appeared to have the race won when he surged home and looked certain to burst past Bear’s Bullet, but didn’t.

The tenacious bitch kept fighting on and won by a nose.

“I was there that night and thought he had it won,” O’Reilly said.

“There were a few other races that he also should have won.

“But that is just him.”

Get Carter was also second to Jay is Jay in the 2023 The Queensland Flame and again was runner-up to Bear’s Bullet in the QGold Summer Sprint in mid-December 2023.

Nagging injuries have kept him off the track for much of 2024.

“I believe that if the dog didn't have this current slight injury, he would still be going very well, super,” O’Reilly said.

“I think if he can stay injury free, he's certainly capable of having a few more wins in him.

“In this race Get Carter is in a difficult position coming out of Box 8 with Sandra Hunt’s dog Kahlo Hayze on his inside.

“That dog (Kahlo Hayze) is flying at the moment.

“But at his best Get Carter would be capable of running that dog down to a nose. That's how good he can be.”

O’Reilly said he and Franklin have been mates for almost their entire lives.

“We went to school together at Rosewood (just west of Ipswich),” he said.

“Grant is a good trainer and he has done very well with Get Carter. I believe he has bought out the best in him.”

O’Reilly has three other starters in on Thursday night at Albion Park – Looks Good (Box 1) in Race 1, a Novice (520m), Tarawi Magic (Box 8) in Race 7, a 5th Grade heat (520m), and the very fast beginner, Tarawi Lee (Box 1) in Race 11, a 5th Grade heat (520m).