For more than 50 years, retired Tasmanian builder Garey Fahey has been training greyhounds.
None have been faster though than the 80-year-old’s kennel star, Raider’s Guide.
A two-time group 1-winning greyhound, Raider’s Guide – who was named in likeness to one of Fahey’s favourite racehorses from the mid-1950s, Sailor’s Guide – will venture back across the Tasman on Saturday night as favourite of the group 1 Hume Cup at The Meadows in Melbourne.
The three-and-a-half-year-old greyhound finished second in the same race last year, beaten by Victoria’s Greyhound of the Year, Hector Fawley, but has been installed as the favourite with bookies to go one better this year following his clinical win in Monday’s heats.
A top prize of $75,000 would take Raider’s Guide’s career earnings well beyond $450,000.
Fahey’s never been to the Meadows; for health reasons, he’ll be watching his star hound from home, but his daughter Carol has a tried-and-true preparation for racing in Melbourne.
“The plane doesn’t get in there until about 2 o’clock, but she’s got a nice park she goes and takes him to and keeps him there under some trees in the van for a couple of hours until she goes to the track, which is not very far from there,” Fahey said.
“You wouldn’t believe how well he pulls up most of the time. He handles the travelling well; he’s a very laidback type of dog. When he gets to the track, he gets a bit more serious.”
