Jury out on Qld's best greyhound

AS 2018 draws to a close, discussions have turned to who might be the Queensland Greyhound of the Year.

Paul Dolan. Picture: Warren Lynam

AS 2018 draws to a close, discussions have turned to who might be the Queensland Greyhound of the Year.

Only one Queensland trained greyhound, Jury for Tony Brett, has won a group one race this year.

Jury has only raced 10 times this year for two wins. He has been unplaced at his past four starts.

The dog ran last in a heat of the group 2 Lismore Cup last Tuesday. But his group 1 victory will impress the judges.

Jury won't be in the Lismore Cup final on Tuesday.

Four Queenslanders will - Del Rey for Tom Tzouvelis, Big Bad Bob for George Clegg, and Fabrique and Fire to Rain for Chris Riordon.

A win by any of them would raise their greyhound of the year prospects.

Del Rey has two group two wins this year - the Launceston Cup and Gold Coast Cup. One more feature win might stitch the title up for him.

Next month's group 2 $40,250 to the winner City of Ipswich Gold Cup will also help to paint a clearer greyhound of the year picture.

Heats are on Saturday, November 17 with the final on Thursday, November 22.

Then follows the group 1 Brisbane Cup at Albion Park.

You would have to say, at this stage, the Greyhound of the Year is too tough to call.

The Lismore Cup box draw for Tuesday is: 1 Ticket to Paris, 2 Raven Ismir, 3 Fire to Rain, 4 Kulu Jasper, 5 Big Bad Bob, 6 Bad Neighbour, 7 Fabrique, 8 Del Rey, Reserves: 9 Nikki Nettle, 10 Terra Tora.

Top Gun hope

GOOD luck to Ray and Mary Burman when Champagne Sally lines up in the $75,000 to the winner group 2 Stayers Top Gun at the Meadows in Melbourne tomorrow night.

The dual Ipswich recordholder has box four and is priced by Ladbrokes at $8.00.

The favourite is Sydney stayer Poco Dorado, trained by John Finn, at $3.20 from box five. Poco Dorado is on a five-race winning streak.

You might be thinking it strange that I didn't mention Champagne Sally as a 2018 Queensland Greyhound of the Year contender.

She doesn't have a group win this year. Not that a group win is necessary but it sure helps.

Her two Ipswich track record runs were last year, so don't count.

Champagne Sally ran a 630 metres record in October 2017 and a 520 metres record in December. Both records still stand nearly 12 months later.

She has been a consistent performer all year round and a feature race win between now and the end of the year would boost her stocks immensely.

Welcome 'Bunny'

IT was 1998 when I started writing this Dogwatch column, at the request of the Ipswich Greyhound Racing Club and the newspaper's proprietors.

Having recently retired from racecalling, a bit of travelling is on the horizon.

As much as I have enjoyed compiling this column, the time is right for a change.

Racecaller John "Bunny'' Brasch will be your scribe as of next week.

Thanks a million for your support.

I know many of you have enjoyed the "consider this'' quote at the end of each week's column. Let's try and bow out with a good one.

Consider this

PROFESSIONAL golf is the only sport where, if you win 20 percent of the time, you're the best.

Originally published as Jury out on Qld's best greyhound