Refreshed Tony Brett returns with six-pack

By Andrew Smith

Refreshed and recharged – those are the words Tony Brett uses to best describe himself after resuming his training career following a lengthy break.

The Queensland Hall of Fame trainer took around six months off from November 2023 to May 2024, his biggest lay-off from the caper since he took over training full-time following his father’s passing over 20 years ago.

And he certainly has not lost his golden touch.

In partnership with Jason Thompson, Brett will have six dogs competing for Group 1 glory across both the Brisbane Cup and Queensland Cup at Albion Park on Thursday night.

Five of those will go around in the $1 million Brisbane Cup.

It is a stunning return to form for the 53-year-old, who credits his long break with reinvigorating his passion and energy for training.

“Don’t get me wrong - we’re in an amazing industry and I love the greyhounds and what I do, but it’s very full on and it’s very time consuming and there’s no break,” Brett said.

“The time away was probably a bit more for my mental health more than anything else and being away just showed me that.

“We did Christmases with the family,  we haven’t been able to do that for years, and could take some holidays and catch up with people I haven’t seen for a long time.

“We had planned a big holiday for a long time - I promised to take Fleur overseas when she was 40 and she actually turns 50 this year so better late than never they say!”

Tony and wife Fleur had drastically downsized their kennel in the months leading up to the break.

Their trip of a lifetime included a month travelling across France, Italy and Greece in August and September last year.

They then had their last runner of 2023 in November at Albion Park with Just A Sort, before Tony stepped away from training for half a year.

It was the most time he has had off since spending a week in Bali for a wedding in 2014.

In April, NSW trainer Steve Fitch contacted him to see if he would consider taking on the training of his star August Bob.

The Grandchester-based mentor admits he did have some doubts about getting back into the game.

“It was a little bit daunting at first - you do question, are you still going to be able to do this as good as you were?” Brett said.

“It’s just taken a bit to get used to having a big kennel and a kennel of dogs again, but it has turned out to be so good, the dogs have performed well so it’s been great.

“We’ve just been blessed we’re in the position we could do it and come back to training greyhounds again - it’s a bit like riding a bike, you don’t forget.

“It was awesome but it was always our plan - we’re not retired, we’re ready to come back in and we just decide to make it the carnival time and here we are.”

Explicit, Excavation and Flying Zulu will race under Thompson’s name in the Brisbane Cup, while Brett will have Zipping Megatron and Lakeview Emily lining up.

Exploded will also jump from the three box in the 710m Queensland Cup after posting the fastest qualifying time.

The stunning qualifying success even left Brett in awe last Thursday night.

“It was up with one of our best - we’ve never had six winners on a night, and even though I’m not down as the official trainer of them, they’re still like our dogs,” Brett said.

“I don’t like to go to a race meeting thinking I can’t win this race…my job was to get them to this final and get them ready to go on the night so they were always going to perform, it was just a matter of getting them to perform on the night.

“The dogs don’t just fly in and we whack them into a race - their trainers plan the time of when they come up and when they come to us and what we’re aiming for.

“All dogs have raced great in the lead up and their timing is just good so we’re real happy with the team and bring on Thursday night.”

Brett’s association with Thompson extends well beyond the greyhound track.

He had stayed with Victorian greyhound racing participant Ron Hood and his partner, Meadows General Manager Marg Long, when he travelled south to race the legendary Bogie Leigh in the early 2000’s.

Hood is also the father of greyhound trainer Seona Thompson, who is married to Jason.

The relationship between Brett and Thompson is such that communication is surprisingly minimal leading up to a big race.

“No news is good news for Jason and if he doesn’t hear or see from me in the week leading up, he knows everything’s good,” Brett said.

“We have a good relationship and most of it’s trust - he doesn’t tell me what to do, I just do what I do and the results speak for themselves.

“We go back as friends for longer and then over the last few years with Jason sending dogs up and that’s just the way that things happen.

“They’re busy down there and we’ve had good success up here so it works out good in that way.

“We’ve won the Brisbane Cup 10 out of I think the last 20 times so if we can add one more to it, I’ll be as happy as he will.”

Explicit is currently leading the market for the Brisbane Cup at $2.80 as of Wednesday afternoon, and will jump from the two tomorrow night.

The other Brett-Thompson dogs take up the next four lines of betting for the 520m trip.

“I can’t really single out any of the runners in our sprint final - all five dogs have run times for 29.45 seconds down to 29.70 seconds and that’s going to be good enough to win this race,” Brett said.

“Probably the dog who isn’t boxed well is Zipping Megatron but if he couldn’t draw inside, then eight is probably where you want to be, you don’t want the middle.

“I’m just happy with the preparation, they’re all peaked to go for Thursday night, the week’s been sensational and now it’s up to them.”

Exploded will have to contend with local superstar Valpolicella in the distance race.

As for if there are any more holidays planned, Brett says he will turn his attention to filling his kennel again – this time with his own dogs, with a ten-strong contingent ready to step up.

“After the carnival, it’s not far from the penthouse to the basement,” Brett said with a laugh.

“These team of dogs will all go back to their owners, and on to the next lot of races.

“We bred a litter while we were out with my niece Sarah and we’re excited to get them to the track - we haven’t bred a litter for many, many years but we figured while we’ve got the time to do it, let’s do it and they’re at the break-in stage now.

“We will bring them through and hopefully by then The Q is going to be ready to go in the new year and from there we’ll sit down and map out a plan of how many race dogs we get in.

“It’s more just dealing with our dogs after that, it’ll be from the highs to being very quiet again after a little while.”

The night’s racing at Albion Park is the climax of the 2024 Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival, with $3 million going up for grabs over the six weeks of competition.