Racing is about more than money to Field kennel

By Jordan Gerrans

If More Than Money can perform as strongly as Will Ashcroft on the big stage then Pamela Field will be a happy greyhound trainer come Thursday evening.

The Logan Reserve-based Field is one of the longest-serving conditioners in the Sunshine State after she raced dogs in the old Gabba days.

As well as her beloved team of greyhounds, Field and her husband John are also avid Brisbane Lions supporters and are still on cloud nine after their side lifted the coveted premiership earlier this year.

They were able to bask in the glory of the Lions’ historic three-peat a couple of decades ago and were on hand at the MCG to soak up all the premiership emotions in late September.

Young on-baller Ashcroft was the star of the show, taking home the Norm Smith Medal.

The Fields attended the captain’s run, headed to the parade and were able to experience all the goodness that comes along with your club in the decider.

They have this week turned their attention to the Group 1 Ipswich Gold Cup after the fastest dog they have ever prepared landed in the rich Final on Thursday night.

The Fields’ More Than Money only scraped into the decider after surviving a dramatic photo-finish in last week’s heat.

As Pamela notes, the kennel have had some good consistent dogs over their many decades in the sport but she admits they are in rare air making the Group 1 Final.

“We were happy to get through as it was a three-way photo and he was on the outside,” the veteran conditioner said.

“He just got it by a smidgen. We were more than happy to qualify. We are excited to be a part of it.

“It is nice as he has just gone two years of age to make a Group 1 Final.”

The Fields' Mercy Rule made a couple of Group 1 Finals in 2011 and 2012 but the bitch was not quite of the standard of their current kennel star.

The Fields home-bred sprinter is the only race dog in their kennel at the moment and he has been a revelation in recent months.

The son of former Field-prepared bitch More Than Money has quickly skipped past $100,000 in career stakes on the back of his strong form in best eight grade events at Albion Park on the weekly city cards.

The team decided to shift their focus to Ipswich for the recent Derby series and after More Than Money ran into fourth in the decider they opted to press on to the Gold Cup.

“Particularly over the last three or four months with the way he has raced at Albion, he has been great,” Pamela said.

“He got up into the best eight grade and he won three or four of those races before we went to Ipswich.

“He won a heat of the Derby at Ipswich in 30.19 seconds and we were over the moon with that.

“We were very happy with that run and that was when we decided we would put him in the heats of the Cup at Ipswich.”

The Fields longevity in the sport is close to unmatched in Queensland.

They are one of the few remaining training teams that raced dogs at the Gabba in the 1970s and are still in the game in 2024.

A purse of $225,005 is on the line in Thursday’s Gold Cup with $150,000 going to the winner.

Times have most certainly changed since the Fields got going in the industry.

“It is like night and day,” Pamela said.

“There have been so many changes, particularly in recent years with the prize money as an example of that.

“I can remember going to Lawnton and winning a race – we got $70 (laughs).

“The tracks have improved and everything in the industry has generally improved really.”

Pamela says they would be lost without their small team of greyhounds and that preparing them is just second nature after so long in the industry.

Pamela and John were there in the last days of the Gabba and they will be competing on the big stage in one of the last feature races to be run at the Ipswich Showgrounds complex.

The Q will soon be unveiled as the future home of Queensland greyhound racing. 

The project will see the Brisbane and Ipswich Greyhound Racing Clubs co-locate at its new home at Purga in Ipswich.

Pamela says she is looking forward to having her first stater at The Q and notes that Ipswich has always been one of her favoured facilities in the Sunshine State.

More Than Money will be the kennel’s first starter in the Gold Cup Final.

“We have always liked the Ipswich track,” Pamela said.

“We have not been up to Ipswich much this year but when we have had more dogs in the past, we like going up there.

“We always start our dogs trialing there when they are broken in.”

More Than Money will jump from the pink in Thursday’s Final, with Pamela remarking that she would have preferred an inside draw.

As of Wednesday afternoon, More Than Money is a $8 hopeful with the bookmakers.