Dale has a tale to tell grandkids

By Glenn Davis

Trainer Mark Dale is working his magic with tried sprinters in the state’s Far North.

The 60-year-old Dale is a proud grandad of two boys and a girl who are all under four years of age.

Dale was based at Deagon on Brisbane’s northside.

Fast forward to now and Cairns-based Dale will head to Townsville on Friday with Inching Closer in the Open Handicap over 1400 metres.

Inching Close’s career looked to be at the crossroads in his first preparation with Dale after he was transferred from the Krystin Allender stable.

“He’s like a lot of us old fellas and doesn’t like working too much,” Dale joked.

“But, he’s very honest and once I get him fit I just keep him ticking him.

“This is only his second preparation for me and I don’t work him much.”

Inching Closer is in the best form of his career with four wins from his past six starts.

The eight-year-old completed a hat-trick of wins with a dominant victory over 1100 metres at Innisfail last Saturday.

“He keeps creeping up in the weights so I claimed on him at Innisfail,” Dale said.

“But, I’ve booked Wanderson D’Avila out of loyalty for Townsville as he’s won three times on him and he seems to have found the key to him.

“He switched off three or four times in Cairns two runs back but Wanderson got stuck into him.

“He’s got plenty of tricks but he’s got his confidence back now.”

A former jockey, Dale grew up at Deagon on Brisbane’s northern outskirts and trained there for seven years in the 1990’s.

He eventually moved to Mackay where he trained successfully for five years before settling in Cairns seven years ago.

“I won a couple of Lightning Handicaps at Mackay and a Townsville Amateur Sprint and just got beaten in a Mackay Newmarket one year,” Dale said. 

Dale shares in the ownership of Inching Closer with first-time owners Hayden Davis and Carly Schilling. 

“Hayden lives at Charters Towers and rides bulls for fun while Carly is a first-time owner from Mount Garnet,” Dale said.