Townsville Derby crown heads north to FNQ

By Jordan Gerrans

A Cairns-based syndicate of owners are loving the ride with promising greyhound Solomon Cain with the fawn youngster claiming the biggest victory yet of his career on Tuesday evening.

Prepared in Townsville by leading local conditioner Bobbie-Jean Chaffey, Solomon Cain scored over the 498 metre trip for the first time in the Final of the Townsville Derby.

Restricted to young male dog’s raced in the area, the son of Fernando Bale won in 28.91 seconds from the three alley in the feature event. 

Solomon Cain finished second in a heat of the series seven days prior but he was not fancied in the market for the decider, jumping at $17.

The odds did not deter Chaffey as she has always had high hopes the emerging chaser would be highly competitive over Townsville’s 498 metre trip.

“We knew he was capable,” Chaffey said.

“He jumped well and he kept that lead, it was great and a good run. It was great to see him finally have a win over 498 metres as we know he can run the distance.

“It was good to see him finally get the win over the distance as he jumped well and kept the lead the whole way.

“He came home strong.”

The 498 metre trip is the annual Cup distance in Townsville with Solomon Cain running in a heat of the lucrative series last month.

The up-and-coming dog had been placed over the Cup distance twice before finally breaking through on Tuesday evening.

Chaffey kennel mate Emgrand Centre finished third in the Final of the Derby after claiming a heat last Tuesday.

Solomon Cain has now won on six occasions and been placed 11 times from 25 career race starts.

He originally raced on the Northern Rivers of NSW and into South East Queensland when prepared by Anthony Hoyland late last year and into 2024.

When Hoyland decided to move the young greyhound on, Chaffey and Paddy Baird swooped.

Baird has long been involved in the greyhound game in the north of the Sunshine State and calls Far North Queensland home.

He put together a syndicate of friends to race the fawn chaser and they are now reaping the spoils.

Solomon Cain has finished in the money nine times from his 11 NQ efforts.

Conditioner Chaffey and her loyal team of owners are smiling at the purchase.

Baird and his crop of mates regularly make the trip south from Cairns to see their dog as well.

“He was interested in getting a dog for his syndicate of mates to watch go around,” the trainer said of Baird.

“He organised the dog and wanted us to train for him. Paddy was in dogs years ago and got a group of boys there together up in Cairns that now have a few dogs.

“A few of them work fly-in, fly-out so when they can, they will come see him race

“They have had a few dogs over the time and they have been down to Townsville to see Solomon Cain.”

While Solomon Cain has shown consistently he can be competitive over the shorter 380 metre journey at Townsville’s Showgrounds track, Chaffey says she is likely to focus in on 498 metre races going forward following Tuesday’s slashing win.

Emgrand Centre was forced to settle for third on Tuesday and Chaffey still has a high opinion of the chaser.

He is a 13-time career winner and had been in prolific form in the lead-up to the Derby decider.

“I am keen to see him run again over the distance, he is a promising dog,” she said.

Chaffey is the reigning champion trainer in North Queensland and is on the way to another hugely successful year as she recently ticked past the ton of winners for 2024.

She prepared a winning double on Tuesday with kennel mate Agitate joining Solomon Cain in the winners’ circle.

As well as the Derby Final on Tuesday evening's program, the Townsville Futurity was also held for the girls.

Bantam Magic from the Carol Pickard team claimed the Futurity crown in 29.04 seconds from the inside alley.