Tom Tzouvelis zipping towards summer carnival riches

By Andrew Smith

Tom Tzouvelis was hopeful of getting a few of his dogs into the semi-finals of the Group 3 Vince Curry Maiden, but even he could not have envisaged what would transpire in the weekend’s heats in Ipswich.

The leading South East Queensland dog man started nine runners in Saturday night’s heats, with eight of the cohort qualifying for this weekend’s penultimate round.

Zipping Dalila and littermate Zipping Viper had opened the account for Tzouvelis, finishing one and two in the opening heat of the evening.

Zipping Kramer finished third in Heat Two to book his spot, before Zipping Rove, Zipping Marcel, Zipping Vivid and Zipping Sweeny dominated Heats Four through Seven to cap off a remarkable evening for the kennel.

Making it even sweeter was Zipping Sweeny posting the fastest time of the litter with a blistering 30.58 seconds in the final heat of the evening.

The dogs all come from the same SH Avatar-Zipping Samara litter, which is bred by Marty and Fiona Hallinan.

Tzouvelis gave a typically understated answer when asked about the achievement of winning five of the seven heats

“They were our first start with racing dogs for the Hallinan family, so it was a pretty good start which is nice,” Tzouvelis.

“It’s not often you get a litter that is so even, and there’s not much between all of them.

“They don’t have a lot of early speed, but they seemed to handle themselves really well in the field which really impressed me.

It sets up a mouth-watering match up between the littermates in Saturday night’s semi-finals at Ipswich, ahead of the $112,500 final on February 1.

Whatever the results over the coming week or two, Tzouvelis is already looking to the future for the litter past next Saturday’s 520m final.

“Hopefully we’ll draw ok in the semi-finals but the future is really over more ground so whatever they do in the 500 metre races is just a bonus,” he said.

“If they can get through to the final of the Vince Curry I’ll be happy - if they don’t, we’ll stick to the plan and get them up over more ground in time to come.”

Before Saturday’s Ipswich meeting, the greyhound trainer will have his sights set on this week’s heats of the Gold Bullion and Gold Cup at Albion.

Queensland Flame winner Daysea’s Rory warmed up for Thursday night’s Gold Bullion qualifiers by taking out a 4th Grade 520m event at The Creek last week.

Tzouvelis said the dog had recovered well from his trip to Melbourne where he finished third in The Phoenix.

“It flattened him a little bit for the first week or two - in the Derby, he just missed the kick and got knocked around,” Tzouvelis said.

“His run was terrific in the heat and he was just unlucky, but definitely with the extra couple of weeks he’s a better dog now than what he was and the experience of travelling is always great.

“We opted not to put him in the Golden Ticket - after Melbourne he just had a couple of little things he had to work on, so we gave him a softer run into the Gold Bullion.

“He’s won his last two, we got him back where we wanted him to and last Thursday was a good run, had to work and run his best time so we’re happy where he’s at.

“It’s just like everything else, week to week with him but he’s progressing really nicely.”

The kennel also has Autumn Storm, Deadly Avenger, Tagovailoa, Prim And Precise and Stowaway as contenders for the $375,000 Group 1 race.

Fresh off November’s Ipswich Cup boilover victory, Autumn Storm is primed for the 520m running after stepping up to 600m in her last five outings.

“We’ve had her middle distance leading up through this carnival so far but we’re going to drop her back for the Gold Bullion heats,” Tzouvelis said.

“She’s not quite ready for the 700 metres just yet - I’m sure she’ll run it but that will probably be in a couple of month’s time.

“We’ve just got to go to the sprint race with the Gold Bullion and she’s feeling really good.

“She’s a bit of a livewire and she’s bouncing off the walls ready to go.”

The Victorian-based Deadly Avenger is also looking to cash in on the prize money on offer for the Golden Greys Summer Carnival.

Trained by George Borg, the Rod Oppenhuis-owned dog had his first look at the Albion track in a trial on Sunday afternoon.

“The dog’s been sent to us in terrific condition…he went super in his last start at the Meadows, he run 29.66 seconds which is a brilliant run,” Tzouvelis said.

“He’s got a bit of quality about him and he’s got early speed and they’re the sort of things you’re looking for in the heats of the Gold Bullion.”

Tzouvelis’ sole Gold Cup contender will come in the form of Black Silencer.

The black dog hails from the Kerrie and Steven White kennels at Buln Buln in West Gippsland, Victoria.

He took out the Clem Jones Cup Final over 710m by nine and a half lengths to complete preparations for the Gold Cup heats in style.

“I was informed by the owners that that’s the first time he’s lead a race so he seems to have pulled up really well,” Tzouvelis said.

“Hopefully he’s not flat from the gut-buster he had because he ran a terrific time and it was such a hot day.

“He seems well though in himself and we’re really happy with him, he seems like he handles any draw so we’re just hoping for a clear run next Thursday.”