Beckett’s pocket dynamo Fluent Action is heading south

By Wayne Heming

Veteran greyhound trainer Dallas Beckett describes his Rockhampton Young Guns runner Fluent Action as a pocket rocket ready to give a talented field something to catch over the 407 metres in Wednesday night’s feature.

“She’s a tiny little thing (23.3kgs),” he said, before adding a note of warning.

“But, she is all heart. She’s got good early speed, without being great and has won out of box four, which she has for this race.

“There’s some good dogs in the Final. Gary Weeding’s dog, Rocky Ride (box three), who ran a smart time in the heat, is drawn alongside my girl and is the logical one to beat.”

But, Beckett, who has been training greyhounds for 30 years revealed win, lose or draw, Fluent Action would be leaving his kennels later this month and heading south to join another of his greyhounds, Sweet Valentine, who was recently purchased by Victorian breeder Craig Davis, and won three or four races in a row.

Beckett and Davis have been swapping and trading dogs across the border for a while, which is how he got his hands on his latest kennel star Play Dirty, who since moving to Queensland boasts an unblemished record of 10 wins in a row.

Beckett currently only has four dogs in his Central Queensland kennels, including Play Dirty, a half-brother to Fluent Action.

He is keeping Play Dirty, but has sold Fluent Action, who may have one more Queensland start for her new owner.

“I’m driving to NSW and meeting Craig. We've been swapping dogs for the last three or four years now,” Beckett said.

“I’m giving Craig three dogs, Daisy Cocktail, Fluent Action and Sweetie Pie and he’s giving me six dogs from another litter of one of my bitches down there named Unique Speed, who was a big strong bitch at around 30 kilograms.

“She’s just had eight pups who have recently been broken in.

“Two of them are mine and Craig has given me another four from the same litter to train and race up here. To be honest, if the two greyhounds I own that I am picking up from Craig had not broken in well, I probably would have retired.

“I’m at the age where I am starting to feel it a bit when the dogs drag me around the paddock.”

Beckett is letting Fluent Action go rather than be forced to race her up against the classy Play Dirty.

“If I kept Fluent Action she’d be racing Play Dirty all the time and she can’t beat him,” Beckett said. 

“She can get down to around 23.40 seconds, which is still very fast, but Play Dirty is a 23.20 second dog and she can’t beat him.”

Beckett has all the modern technology to prepare his dogs, but still prefers the old style of letting his greyhounds free-run in the paddock.

“They basically train themselves and they all run together," the 70-year-old trainer said.

“I just let them go and play, whistle them up to come back for tea and then they go to sleep. I have all that modern equipment, but mainly for injuries.

“You watch them run freely in the paddock and pick up any injuries."