Contact

  • Friday, 18 Apr, 2014,
  • by Greyhound Racing Victoria

From Givaway To Group Win

TASSIE TRIO WIN LAUNCHING PAD IN FIRST MAINLAND CAMPAIGN
*story courtesy Sandown Greyhound Racing Club

An ambitious plan with a giveaway greyhound has paid a huge dividend for Tasmanian trainer Scott Bryan.

Bryan won last night’s Group 2 Launching Pad with Wynburn Wizard (Collide – Hayley’s Girl) in the hobby trainer’ first campaign on the mainland.

After a string of strong performances at his local track in Launceston, Bryan made the decision to cross Bass Straight to contest the $40,000 to-the-winner Launching Pad with his promising pup Wynburn Wizard.

Despite neither trainer nor greyhound having raced in Victoria before, Wynburn Wizard proved too good in his Launching Pad heat, racing into Thursday night’s final and giving Bryan the biggest thrill of his brief training career.

“Getting a city winner is what we dream of back home. It’s a real challenge to come over and compete against the best greyhounds in the country,” said Bryan after winning his heat.

And after last night’s final Bryan was even more ecstatic.

“It means a lot, standing up there with Group 1 winning trainers like Jeff Britton and Tony Brett and the like.  But my mentor Tom Englund (owner of Wyburn Wizard) said never underestimate yourself as a trainer.

“It has been such an excellent experience, we’ll definitely be back soon.”

The win was Wynburn Wizard’s seventh of his 19 start career, and the $40,000 first prize boosted his career prize money to $57,750.

 

Bryan, 37, trains a small team of young greyhounds in Wynyard, a coastal town of 5000 people northwest of Burnie.

 

Bryan got involved in greyhound racing around 20 years ago with Englund, however he stepped away after starting a family.

As the kids got a little older, Bryan got back into training – this time for Tom’s son Ben – and the three of them formed a syndicate.

“We’re plasterers by trade. The three of us are rivals in business but partners in the dogs,” said Bryan with a laugh.

“We have a small team of four race dogs plus about 16 or 17 pups, and we try to be smart about how we breed them.”

Enter the giveaway greyhound, Hayley’s Girl.

“Hayley’s Girl is a full sister to Ricky’s Angel, who had produced Rewind (Tasmanian champion who was the winner of 61 races and $232,610 in prize money). The owners were going to move her on so we said to them if ‘you’re going to do that do you mind if we have her to breed with?’

“They agreed so we decided to try and chase the line by going to (Rewind’s sire) Collide, and the result was Wynburn Wizard.”

“After seven or eight starts we knew was something a little bit special,” Bryan said.

Later in the evening, the exciting Campaspe Will claimed the inaugural running of the $21,750 Easter Gift (Listed), sweeping past the quality field down the back straight to storm to an ever widening 9 length win in a slick 29.18 seconds.

While the action ran hot on the track, more than 300 kids enjoyed the club’s annual Easter Fun Kids Night, participating in a range of exciting events including Owner For The Day, Beat the Bunny races, a giant Easter Egg hunt and a host of free activities.

 

[youtube youtubeurl=”kLH1Tgc19Ec” ][/youtube]

 

LAUNCHING PAD FULL RESULTS: CLICK HERE
EASTER GIFT RESULTS & REPLAY: CLICK HERE

Greyhound Racing VictoriaGreyhound Racing Victoria

Greyhound Racing Victoria

GRV regulates the sport of greyhound racing in the state of Victoria under the Racing Act 1958 (Act), which includes setting standards and ensuring they are met by participants.

Up Next

New Innovations

Greyhound trainers are invited to be part of a Public Trainers list where their contact details will be made available to the public via GRV’s website. This is one of a number of key technologic…

Newsletter Signup