Chaffey targeting quality to add to quantity of Townsville wins

By Pat McLeod

The mountain of work North Queensland trainer Bobbie-Jean Chaffey is ploughing through is now reaping its rewards.

That trend is set to continue on Tuesday night at the Townsville Showgrounds track with her kennel’s four starters across six heats of the North Queensland Cup.

Chaffey has Solomon Cain (box four) in heat one, Bar One Smokers (box seven) in heat three, King Amar (box seven) heat four and Grinch (box six) heat five.

On the night she has a total of 13 runners over the 12-race card.

That follows Friday’s meeting in Townsville when she had 18 starters and came away with five wins.

“That was a great result,” Chaffey said of Friday’s tally.

“I have had five winners once before and have had a number of fours and threes.”

With up to 50 dogs in work Chaffey is used to big numbers in all categories, however she is now also ticking the ‘quality’ box as well as ‘quantity’.

“Yes, that is the aim, to do well in the features, such as the North Queensland,” Chaffey said.

“We have been doing that recently, as shown in the Townsville Cup series.”

Chaffey won through to the Cup Final with Bar One Smokers and in the Cup Consolation was placed third (Grinch) and fourth (Emgrand Centre).

Currently Chaffey has a 518-point lead in the Townsville premiership race with 133 wins and 337 placings so far this year.

Chaffey says her four runners in Tuesday night’s heats will all be competitive despite wide box draws.

“If they are close enough they will each be a good chance,” Chaffey said.

“Bar One Smokers has a strong run home so definitely is a contender.

“It really would be good to get through to the Final. But, it is a greyhound race and anything can happen.”

The North Queensland Cup is restricted to ‘local’ dogs, who must have been kennelled in the Townsville area for 76 days before the heats.

“It may be for local dogs, but that doesn’t mean this is an easy series,” Chaffey said.

“The quality of racing in Townsville at the moment is very high.

“And, that quality is spread across many kennels. It is not a case of one or two trainers having all the good dogs. It won’t be easy to win any of these heats.”

Chaffey’s success this year has come despite a delicate juggling act.

She may have a large kennel and plenty of race commitments, but until about August this year she also worked full-time.

“I was very lucky that my boss was very helpful with my greyhound commitments,” Chaffey said.

“Of course my partner Paul (Smith) and son Jake do a large amount of the work. Jake (19 years of age) has his trainer’s licence as well now. It is a real team effort.

“We are now at our busiest with the number of dogs in work, but that was how we planned it. So hopefully the wins keep coming.”

Among the strong contenders for the $16,000-to-the-winner North Queensland Cup are Tony Parker’s Showtime Isaac (heat one), Steven Scott’s Inevitable (heat two), Mark Partland’s Cool Bananas (heat four) and Rhonda Essery’s Management Zero (heat five) and Moustache Mick (heat six).