Schmidts ready to rock with new grass star

By Jordan Gerrans

As far as breeding goes in the Sunshine State, greyhound Rio Will Rock is one out of the box.

So, it is only fair for the dog to achieve an extraordinary feat.

After fighting back from a serious injury earlier in his career, the locally-bred black dog set the fastest time ever recorded at Capalaba on Sunday afternoon.

Rio Will Rock went 19.17 seconds on the grass surface in a mixed first and second grade event.

The sparkling effort bettered the previous record which was jointly held by Leeroy Rogue and Fernando Grand at 19.22 seconds.

Rio Will Rock is owned and was bred by Churchable brothers Craig and Jason Schmidt.

The promising chaser is from a Rio Brave and August Flame mating.

While it is common for a former Queensland bitch to make her name in the breeding barn as a broodbitch, it is a rare occurrence to have both sides of the mating having raced in the Sunshine State.

And, it is even more unusual that the two dogs were prepared by the same kennel. 

Craig trained Rio Brave with August Flame previously in the racing kennel of Jason.

For the Schmidt brothers, it was a monumental occasion on Sunday as they have been on the journey with Rio Will Rock every step of the way.

“It makes it even better,” Jason said.

“It does not happen very often these days, to breed from two dogs you trained. It makes it even more special for us.”

To have the stud dog and the broodbitch previously racing in the same kennel does happen in the southern states on occasions but it is uncommon in Queensland.

Rio Brave won seven of his 17 starts which included making three black-type Finals, including two at Group 1 level in 2018 and 2019. 

August Flame was a 12-time winner from 36 attempts.

For the Schmidts, the breeding combination just made sense.

“When we decided to use him as the sire and we decided on her as the right cross, we are always looking at genetics,” Jason said.

“The genetics do not always work but they were there in this occasion for it to be good. There wouldn’t be many in Queensland these days that are like him.”

As well as training their own team of around 20, the Schmidt brothers run a pre-training and rearing business.

They prepared Rio Will Rock in the early stages of his career but once they unearthed that the dog had above average level talent, they knew they needed to move him on to another trainer.

The brothers would have loved to kept racing him themselves but once they realised that travelling to bigger races might be in his future, then the decision was made to transfer him on as they needed to remain at their property for work purposes.

The Schmidts have long been close mates with leading dog man Tom Tzouvelis and the greyhound went to the Park Ridge mentor.

Rio Will Rock suffered a setback at Grafton around four months ago in a heat of the Thunderbolt but the team have worked hard on him to get him back to his best.

“Tommy always knew he had the ability as he was being told what times he was trialling,” Jason said.

“He jumped at the chance to take him. Coming back from the injury, that was always a worry if he was going to come back but Tommy was confident.”

It was also ironic to see a Tzouvelis-prepared dog break the Capalaba track record and the dog not be Valhalla, such has Valhalla’s dominance been at the boutique straight track over the last couple of years.

Rio Will Rock’s performance on Sunday was the first time the Schmidts have been involved in a track record in their lengthy time in the code.

“We are tickled pink to be able to do that,” Jason said.

“When he was a pup he went 19.43 seconds in a maiden there at Capalaba, we always knew he had ability but something like a track record is a fairytale really.

“You have to be good to be a track record holder these days but he had the ability from day dot when we were trialing.”

Rio Will Rock ran in a heat of the recent Capalaba Cup series at just his second start back from his lay-off due to the Grafton tumble.

The team concede he was not completely race fit for the assignment and now following the track record effort, they have reaffirmed their plans for a feature race assault.

“We probably rushed him for the Capalaba Cup as it was coming up, he probably was not fit enough,” Jason said.

“He was probably a month away being right before the Cup.”

The dog heads to a heat of the Goulburn Cup on Friday - where he will jump from the seven over 440 metres - before looking towards the Maitland Cup.

Rio Will Rock trialled at Goulburn when the Tzouvelis team travelled dogs south in recent weeks.

"When we went to Sydney with the Million Dollar Chase dogs, he went too and we got to give him a trial at Goulburn," Tzouvelis said.

"He will also head towards the Maitland Cup later in the year."