Parker says kennel star is his ‘premium bread and butter’

By Wayne Heming

North Queensland trainer Tony Parker has described his kennel star, Showtime Isaac, as his ‘bread and butter’ as he attempts to lower the boom on exciting young greyhound Oorah in Wednesday night’s Anniversary Cup Final at Rockhampton.

In what shapes as an intriguing showdown, Parker concedes Oorah (trained by Steve Scott) could be a little too good in the Final unless his dog can beat him out of boxes.

Parker certainly isn’t conceding defeat by any means.

“He’s going to have to improve a lot to beat Oorah going on last week’s (heat) runs” Parker said.

“Can I beat Oorah? I don’t know if I can, but we’ll give it a crack.”

Showtime Issac has been a terrific pick-up for Parker since he was gifted to him by former trainer and breeder, Dan Henry.

“Dan was at the point where he was getting out of greyhounds and he said to me: ‘You can have him if you want him’,' Parker said. 

“At that point, his form was only fair, he wasn’t anything special.

“But, after I got him, he just kept getting better. He’s turned out to be a lot better than I thought. He is my little bread and butter dog, maybe make that ‘premium bread and butter dog’.”

Showtime Isaac has won 23 races and over $78,000 in prizemoney.

Parker said Showtime Issac would have his work cut out beating the flying Oorah, who has won his last three, including his heat last week in the quickest time of the night (29.75 seconds)

But, Showtime Isaac, who races mostly at Townsville, should be improved by his first start over 510 metres at Rockhampton.

Showtime Isaac won his heat impressively in 29.98 seconds. 

“If Oorah does what he did last week, I’m probably going to be chasing his tail, but we’ll see,” Parker said. 

“He has to lead, He can’t give him a start and run him down.”

Parker, who has made the long trek from his training base near Ayr to race at Rockhampton while the rail is being replaced at Townsville, said the experience would only benefit his star once Townsville Showgrounds re-opened for racing.

With Oorah in box seven, Parker is hoping Showtime Isaac (box four) can fly the lids and lead.

“He is certainly not without chance,” he said.

“It would be great to see him lead by a few lengths and have Oorah try to chase him down.

“I think that would make for an exciting finish. If it’s the other way around and Oorah is a length or two in front of me, I don’t think he can run him down, he is too strong.”

Showtime Isaac is a dog who likes to get wide and dislikes pressure from runners on his outside, which makes his stunning record from the red box a little puzzling to Parker.

Showtime Issac has started nine times from the one box for seven wins.

“It’s a mystery how he goes so well in the red rug,” Parker admitted. 

“He likes to get off the track. If there’s pressure on his outside, he doesn’t like it at all.

“The draw is not too bad for him in this race. I didn’t want him to be on the outside of Oorah because I doubted he could cross and lead him.”