Owner inspired to take on training challenge

By Jordan Gerrans

David Sloan has been involved in the Golden Chase Sprint series at Ipswich as an owner in recent years but admits the nerves kicked in when he took on the role of trainer for the first time last Friday afternoon.

The Churchable-based Sloan had the promising Miss Sara Jane engaged in one of the heats of the popular series.

The daughter of Inspired Hope had put her best foot forward in the early stages of her career, winning on five occasions from nine outings.

Sloan’s nerves were eventually put to bed as his emerging kennel youngster saluted in her heat in 25.37 seconds.

She did not have it all her own way from the inside draw but Miss Sara Jane showed plenty of determination to knuckle down in the concluding stages.

Sloan has been involved in the industry as an owner for some time but has only started training in his own right over the last 12 months.

With his black bitch progressing through to the semi-final leg of the series, the fledgling conditioner is hopeful of landing in the decider in early March.  

“I was pretty happy with her run,” the owner and trainer said.

“In all her races so far, she has had outside boxes so that was the first time she had an inside draw and I was a bit concerned with it.

“I was excited to have the one for a change and she was in a lot of trouble early. But, she has a lot of fight in her that one, she doesn’t like getting beaten.

“It might have been one of the slower times but I think it was one of the better wins on the day.”

Sloan has been long-time friends with the Northern NSW-based Donna Darcy and Vince Mackenzie-Ross who own and breed with Inspired Hope.

Broodbitch Inspired Hope has delivered some top dogs in recent years with Greg Stella’s Magistrate the pick of the bunch with $498,375 in career earnings.

Darcy and Mackenzie-Ross have been breeding greyhounds across four decades and have raced many with prominent Brisbane trainer Stella.

Magistrate – who has raced in Group company throughout his career – won the Golden Chase Sprint series Final over 431 metres in 2023.

Sloan would often go to the track with the team of Darcy and Mackenzie-Ross to watch their progeny go around.

As well as Magistrate, Inspired Hope has also produced top dogs such as Journalist, Our Opals and Seven Sinners, among others.

In the Final of the series in 2023, Magistrate’s litter brother Inspired Reason finished third.

Sloan owns Inspired Reason and eventually took over the training duties of the chaser from Stella.

Sloan also raced Sigatoka - who was trained by John Dart – through the Ipswich series last year.

Now semi-retired from the workforce, the keen greyhound man is building out his training complex at Churchable as he aims to establish his own kennel.

“I am working longer hours than I ever worked now that I am doing the dogs,” Sloan said with a laugh.

“But, it does not feel like work when it is a passion. I am enjoying learning the craft. It is exciting to be in a series like this. It is great to be involved with it.”

Sloan has nine greyhounds in work and just sent eight more to the breakers as he develops his racing team.

While Miss Sara Jane is a star on the rise for Sloan’s kennel, she only made it to the races and into the Golden Chase Sprint series by luck.

“She is only 20 months old and I only started her early because I had other pups that I wanted a field trial with at Ipswich so I took her there one night,” he recalls.

“They were about six weeks more advanced than her and she just blew them away.

“So, I took her again the following week and she just kept winning by further and further.

“I thought we might start her and go straight to this race series. She has limited work so I think there is plenty of upside to her.

“She has not been pushed; it is just natural ability and not anything I have been doing with her training.

“Greg Stella told me the other day that anything she does now is just a fraction of what she is capable of in six months’ time. I think she is a very exciting prospect.”

The 431 metre Golden Chase Sprint series began in 2006, wasn’t raced from 2010, then resumed in 2020.

Qualifiers from Friday’s heats (first three from each of the 10 heats plus the fastest two fourth-placed dogs), will progress to the semi-finals on Friday, February 21, with the $12,000-to-the-winner decider on Saturday, March 1.

The last two winners of this series have become quality Group dogs: Magistrate (2023) and Kia Kaha (2024).

Only three dogs of the latest Inspired Hope litter to Western Australian champion Tommy Shelby have made it to the races so far, with Miss Sara Jane accounting for six of the seven victories.

“She has been outstanding and in the times she has not won, she has had obvious reasons for it,” Sloan said.

“I am absolutely stoked with her and the whole line is brilliant, out of Inspired Hope.

“She is out of the third litter and the first litter obviously made a big number in prizemoney and I had a couple out of the second litter. I think Sara Jane is by far the best one out of that line that I have had.”

Say When Glen for trainer Denise Robinson was the fastest heat winner across Friday’s Ipswich program in 24.71 seconds.