Team Whelan searching for sweet success with Golden Ticket

By Andrew Smith

The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, and that certainly rings true for the Whelan family – albeit with children of the canine variety.

“Team Whelan” consists of greyhound trainer Harley, his brother Luke and sisters Lana, Brooke and Christine, as well as their mother Monique and father Peter.

The team is based out of Metung in eastern Victoria, around four hours' drive out of Melbourne.

But it will be the Sunshine State where the Whelans are hoping Lakeview Emily can shine when she lines up in this week’s Group 2 Golden Ticket Final at Albion Park.

Luke and his partner Libby are currently residing in Kingsholme at the home of revered dog man Tom Tzouvelis and wife Beata, as they prepare for Thursday night’s Final.

It is a true family affair for the Whelan clan who have 16 dogs in their care at the East Gippsland property, sharing the highs and lows of the greyhound racing caper.

“We all do the dogs together and we all take it in turns racing, trialing, feeding, doing all the chores day in, day out,” Luke said.

“We do it at our Mum and Dad’s property in Metung so we all meet there in the morning and do the dogs together and Mum and Dad are always behind the show supporting us so it’s a good turnout there every day.

“It’s pretty exciting when you have a big win and it’s hard to celebrate because you’ve always got to do the dogs the next day and because they’re seven days a week, if we have a big win we’ll go down to a local pub and celebrate.

“But most of the times, you’re back in the kennels and just keep doing your daily routines and keep moving on in hope for the next one.”

After coming close on previous occasions, the kennel is confident Lakeview Emily can finally break through for a Group win in Thursday’s $100,000 Final.

The bitch posted the quickest Flying Amy heat time during last year’s Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival, before ultimately finishing second in the final to Uncle Tommy.

She then took out a Brisbane Cup Prelude Final and stormed home in the Brisbane Cup heats later in June.

Leading for the majority of the $1 million Final, Lakeview Emily was pipped on the line by Flying Zulu to again finish agonisingly short of victory.

The Whelans are hoping it will be a case of third-time lucky for their kennel star.

“Off her past form you probably couldn’t fault her at Albion - she’s always begun well there and done some nice racing there so you can’t say the track’s an issue for her so hopefully she can get the job done,” Luke said.

“She’s been in a bit of a purple patch in the minute, run a couple of quick times and that.

“Racing’s one of those things you need every bit of luck going your way so yeah hopefully this time is the time for her to break through.”

Lakeview Emily booked her spot in the Final with a heat time of 30.08 seconds last Thursday night.

As of Tuesday afternoon, she was a $4.40 chance with the TAB, just behind the Thomas Dailly-trained Smooth Plane who has firmed into favouritism.

Four two-dog match races will make up the final, with the winner determined by the fastest time.

Lakeview Emily will go up against Warm Cockles in Match Race 3.

“Her run in the heats I thought was pretty reasonable from her, she hadn’t been to Albion since she left up here when she was up here with Tony (Brett) so she hadn’t been here for a fair while,” Luke said.

“Coming back to the track, and just familiarizing herself with it again certainly won’t hurt her.

“All eight of them are good dogs but I think she’s got every chance to win it if she’s good enough so it’s all up to her really.”

All going to plan, the Whelans will also aim Lakeview Emily at next week’s Gold Bullion heats ahead of the Group 1 Final a week later.

Lakeview Nola has also travelled north as a travel companion for her kennelmate and is also set to feature again during the Golden Greys Summer Carnival.

Luke was keen to pay tribute to Tzouvelis who has been immense in helping the Whelan clan go for gold during their northern sojourn.

“The money is sensational up here - you try and chase the carnivals up here and normally the weather’s pretty good,” Luke said.

“Normally the prizemoney is well worth travelling up to Brisbane from Victoria and we’ve had a bit of success of late so yeah it’s made it worthwhile coming up.”

“The trialing has been pretty good, the racing’s been every good to us up here, if you ever need a hand or anything, Tom and Beata are well and truly happy to help you out and fit you in where they can and work with your schedule.

“They have definitely helped us out getting us contacts and getting us trials and doing stuff like that so a massive thanks to them for giving us their hand when we need it.”