By Jordan Gerrans
Jim Gallaway regrettably missed the opportunity to train champion greyhound Flying Amy all those years ago and more than two decades on, the legend conditioner has ambitions of winning the race named after her with an up-and-coming youngster.
Gallaway raced Tenthill Flyer during her career, who was eventually put to Amerigo Man, which produced Hall of Famer and former Queensland superstar Flying Amy.
The veteran dog man reared the litter Flying Amy was in but somehow the future star slipped through his fingers.
“In those days, the deal was that I would do the breeding and then I would get the pick of the bitches to race and I picked something else out of Flying Amy’s litter,” he recalls.
“I lost her.”
To honour Flying Amy’s sparkling career, the Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club hold a race in her name every year during the TAB Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival – the Flying Amy Classic – at Group 2 level with $150,000 on the line.
While the now Warragai Creek-based Gallaway never did get the chance to prepare the gun dog Flying Amy in the 1990’s, he feels he is a definite chance to win the race named after her in 2022.
He has ambitions of claiming the feature event with black bitch Little Zephyr – who will contest this Thursday’s Group 3 Brisbane Young Guns over 520 metres – before looking towards the Classic.
Little Zephyr has been a boom dog since the early stages of her career, winning five from 11 as well as two other minor placings, with an eye-catching 25.07 second performance around the 450 metre trip at Maitland putting her in the rising star category at just her fourth career start.
While the Group 3 Young Guns Final is front and centre in the kennel’s mind right now, the experienced trainer has eyes on the race named after the famous dog he reared.
He has gone close in years gone by but Gallaway has never won the Flying Amy, with the race named in her honour back in 1999.
“I would really like to win it, it would be special,” Gallaway said.
“I reared her until she was three months old because I kept the mother Tenthill Flyer for breeding at my place, after racing her, and I actually raced her grandmother as well.
“Before they named the race The Flying Amy in 1999, I was training her brother at the time, he came third in the race.”
From a Fernando Bale and Barcia Jeanes litter, Little Zephyr finished second in her heat last Thursday evening, beaten almost four lengths to Black Magic Rose with the pink rug on her back.
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She will again jump from eight in the Final, with her trainer noting he would have preferred the other end of the box draw.
“She will need to begin pretty well to get around that first bend out of trouble, it might be a bit tough in the Final,” Gallaway said.
“She has run a 5.50 second early split in her career there, which is pretty quick, so we will see what happens.
“It was good in the heat, she got her head in front down the back and then got a bit of a check and went a little bit further and got another bump, which put her off balance a little bit.
“She trialled good on the Sunday up there as well, she broke 29.86 seconds in that.
“We will need to reassess her plans following this race on Thursday night, as she has been pulling up sound after all her runs, even the one down at Wentworth Park.
“She freshens up pretty quick and came home pretty good.
“The Flying Amy might be one we consider, or one of those feature events.”
Before making the trip north to the Sunshine State, Little Zephyr went around in the TAB Million Dollar Chase Semi Finals and with plenty of rain about the Grafton area since, she has not been able to do much racing or trialling since.
Following her strong performance at Maitland in early March, Gallaway and his partner Julie King’s phones were hot with people looking to buy the budding star.
Queensland trainer Darren Russell was one who attempted to throw in an offer for the bitch, as many others did, but the kennel knocked them all back.
Before the Maitland outing, she went close to upsetting another star on the rise - Black Comanche – so there was plenty of eyes on the youngster.
“I have not run her through her grades even, we put her in that race at Wenty in the Millions Dollar Chase and she trialled 30 seconds dead down there in her first look,” he said.
“In the semi-final she drew box four in the guts and got a bit squeezed up.
“She has not had much racing really.
“As soon as there is a decent dog, people are always ringing up trying to buy them.”
Despite the heavy rain, Gallaway has been able to use his straight track at his property to work his team of 30 chasers.
The TAB have installed Little Zephyr as a $6.50 hope to claim the prize on Thursday evening, with the Tony Brett-trained Milligan judged as the $2.80 favourite.
From the kennel of champion trainer Brett, Milligan will jump from box six as he shoots for his fourth win in his last five starts.
Like Little Zephyr, the Brett rising star is also likely to head towards the Flying Amy Classic.
“He has got a bit to learn but he keeps stepping up and getting the job done,” Brett said.
“Hopefully, he can really shine over the carnival.
“Hopefully, he can take the step up to the next level as he will go to the Flying Amy after this, hopefully he can be successful there.”
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