Half Your Luck

Breeding: SIRE: Worthing DAM: Mini Note

Whelped : December 1970

Trainer : Ted Redpath

Owners : Ted Redpath

Career Race Record : 71 starts, 46 wins, 14 placings

Career Prizemoney : $50,000

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Winner 1973 Group 1 Australian Cup
• Winner 1973 Warragul Cup
• Winner 1973 NSW Centenary Cup
• 2nd 1972 Group 1 Melbourne Cup
• 2nd 1973 Group 1 National Sprint Championship
• 3rd 1973 Group 1 Melbourne Cup
• Finalist 1972 Group 1 Silver Chief

Half Your Luck was arguably the greatest greyhound sprinter of his time.

If his 29 city wins isn’t convincing enough, consider the $100,000 that was offered for the superstar when he was racing in 1973.

Half Your Luck’s owner/trainer Ted Redpath, whom his son Lloyd described as a nervous and stressful character, knocked back the huge offer, which is the equivalent more than $1Million today.

“It [the $100,000] was huge money back then, but dad knocked it back because he was at the end of his training career and the enjoyment of racing Half Your Luck outweighed the money”, Lloyd said.

Half Your Luck was dubbed the ‘People’s Dog’ because his consistent form on the metropolitan tracks gave punters a run for their money.

He also had a huge fan base in his home town of Meeniyan, which is located in Victoria’s Gippsland region.

“In those days there were probably 15 or 20 greyhound trainers in Meeniyan, and now there’s only one [GRV Hall of Fame inductee, Marg Thomas]. Everyone in the town was behind him, especially when he won the Australian Cup”, Lloyd recalled.

Greyhound racing had widespread appeal in the days when Half Your Luck was racing, and he had an arch rival on the racetrack called New Mariner.

The two champions raced against each other on numerous occasions with New Mariner beating Half Your Luck in two major races, the 1972 National Sprint Championship and the 1973 Melbourne Cup.

However, the clash that created the most public interest was undoubtedly the two-dog match race the pair had at Sandown Park [513 metres] in 1973, and it was on that occasion that Half Your Luck came out on top.

“It [match race] was in all the papers. I think it was only the second match race that had ever been run in Australia and was the first for 15 years.”

“Half Your Luck led by three lengths to the first turn and ended up beating New Mariner by two lengths.”

“In those days thousands of people went to the city race meetings every week, and a newspaper article reported that the match race drew an extra 2,000 people through the gates that night.”
“In those days prize money for winning a Free For All race in town was about six or seven hundred dollars. Half Your Luck won $1,000 for winning the match race and New Mariner won $500.”

The rivalry led to the Redpaths getting to know New Mariner’s trainer Ray Jennings quite well.

“We ended up becoming pretty good friends with Ray, and after the match race dad donated the prize money to the Sport Globe’s Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal, and Ray did the same.”

Half Your Luck’s also won the 1973 NSW Centenary Cup and the 1973 Warragul Cup.

“He won the Warragul Cup after giving a two metres start, but that didn’t worry him because he had box 1”, Lloyd said.

Half Your Luck eventually went to stud with legendary studmaster and GRV Hall of Fame inductee Fred Booth, who was a good friend of Teds.

“He [Half Your Luck] had plenty of matings including a lot while he was still racing”, Lloyd said.

While Half Your Luck threw plenty of winners, it was his incredible racing career that he is best remembered for, which includes winning from every box at former metropolitan racetrack, Olympic Park.