Victorian ex-pat Paul Hili, 51, will be hoping Tasmanian staying star Fast Minardi produces some ‘high intensity’ in the $136,750 Group 1 National Distance Championship (730m) – Race 6, 8.16pm – at The Meadows on Saturday night.

The son of legendary trainer Joe Hili, who passed away in March 2020, was born with a lead and collar in his hand.

Ironically, Hili handled his father’s champion Victorian stayer, High Intensity, on the night it won the 1988 National Distance Championship at Wentworth Park. He was a 16-year-old teenager at the time but still has vivid memories of the victory.

“It was my biggest moment while I was helping mum (Sophie) and dad. I went with dad this time but was sent back on a plane the next day to help mum with the dogs at home while dad and one of his mates continued up to Queensland to race.”

Roll on more than three decades and Hili is attempting to match his late father’s feat. He’ll rug Fast Minardi (Box 4) – an $8.50 chance on Sportsbet – who is chasing Tasmania’s first-ever NDC since the event’s inception in 1969.

“I’ve had him from the start; it would be enormous if I could win the race and emulate dad.”

“High Intensity was one of the first dogs I was associated with, so to bring one of my own over is a great thrill, particularly given the fact it’s the National Distance Championship,” Hili said.

“I’ve bred, reared and pre-trained him. I’ve had him from the start; it would be enormous if I could win the race and emulate dad.”

Hili added his father was a fantastic mentor, saying “he taught me about 90 per cent of what I know about greyhounds”.

“He told me, ‘always have your dogs fit and healthy and don’t change their routine regardless of the type of race’.

“He was also a hard taskmaster when it came to training greyhounds. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“If Joe’s son could win, how good would that be! I know Paul will be over the moon, even if he runs a place.”  

Fast Minardi (Mar ’21 Fernando Bale x Cheeky Vixen) won his NDC state final (720m) at Launceston by 15 lengths in 42.34sec – around 5L off the 42.03sec track record held by Wynburn Ruby. (He was runner-up to Wynburn Ruby in the G2 Launceston Cup in February.)

Quite aptly, Fast Minardi – named after a small Italian team that competed in Formula One from 1985 to 2005 – has displayed a F1 engine in the early and middle stages of his distance races.

However, the $85,000 question is: can he push the pedal to the metal over the concluding stages in the NDC grand finale?

“He’s just a professional race dog,” Hili said. “He knows how to find the line, and he knows how to win.

“On his Tassie form, he should lead and I’m just hoping he gets a big break on them. But I don’t think he’s a 100 per cent genuine stayer because he’s too brilliant early.”

Hili came over on the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ and arrived on Sunday morning. He trialled Fast Minardi box-to-box (from the distance start) at The Meadows on Monday.

“It was blowing a gale, so it’s hard to gauge how he went. But he seemed to handle the track well.”

Owned by Ross Freeman – a former leading harness driver/trainer in Tassie – Fast Minardi has won 18 races (with 12 seconds and one third) from 33 starts and $118,620 in prizemoney.

He hasn’t finished further back than second at his past 15 starts, resulting in nine wins, and has won six of his past seven – all at Launceston (three over 515m and four over 720m).

“It’s the owner’s first greyhound for many years,” Hili said. “Ross bought ‘Fonzie’ (named after Spanish motorsports racing driver Fernando Alonso) as a four-week-old pup.”

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Hili’s proud mum – also a dab hand with greyhounds – says, “Paul was just a natural, like his father, growing up with greyhounds”.

“All he wanted to do was leave school and start helping Joe with the dogs,” Sophie said. “He left school the year he was allowed to finish and never went back.

“He worked for us – machining, exercising and hydro-bathing our dogs, preparing their meals and handling them on race nights – before setting out on his own at around 18 or 19 years old.”

Hili relocated to Tasmania in 2010 with his wife, Jodie, and daughter, Olivia, who will turn 18 in October.

WATCH: FAST MINARDI (B3) was in Formula One mode taking the Tasmanian NDC final ‘chequered flag’ by a whopping 15 lengths.

“We’ll all be there at The Meadows on Saturday night,” Sophie said. “My daughter, Lou-Anne, and her partner, Chris. Owner Ross Freeman and his wife, Cheryl, are also flying over with a grandson and my sister, Helena, is also coming. It’ll be a family affair.”

Sophie added the NDC is quite sentimental for the family.

“If Joe’s son could win, how good would that be! I know Paul will be over the moon, even if he runs a place.”

Pawnote: Tasmania’s only ‘Nationals’ champion is Busy Vintage, who won the 1984 National Sprint Championship at Harold Park in 1984.