Tony Brett's squeal of approval for stayer Days of Thunder

By Jordan Gerrans

When Warren Nicholls first heard the squeal of champion trainer Tony Brett, he knew he had a serious race dog in Days of Thunder.

Well, the Churchable trainer – Nicholls – already thought he had an elite-level greyhound with the white bitch.

Brett’s scream just reaffirmed it.

Nicholls has travelled the daughter of Fernando Bale around Australia this year, chasing higher honours but it has been her home track of Albion Park where she has hit her straps.

Legend trainer Brett would go on to claim the Group 1 Queensland Cup last Thursday night with Collinda Patty.

The black bitch did so after surviving a scare from Nicholls’ stayer, who rocketed home in the final stages to run third after being well back in the field.

Standing at the boxes watching the race next to Hall of Fame dog man Brett, Nicholls knew his chaser was in with a chance of an upset result just by listening to his surroundings.

“In that first lap, I thought she was right out of it but in the second lap she rattled home,” Nicholls said.

“That is the first time I have ever heard Tony Brett squeal, he has got a very high-pitched squeal, which is something he may not want people to know (laughs).

“It was good to hear him squeal as he was worried, just as they turned for home he squealed “he comes Warren’s dog”.

“It was a very high-pitched squeal.”

After just falling short of Group honours last week, Nicholls and his white bitch pull on the maroon colours on Thursday as they aim to wrestle back the State of Origin trophy from NSW in the popular annual concept.

Days of Thunder is one of four Sunshine State stayers who will compete in the 710-metre distance event, which is one of three races that will decide the Origin title for 2022.

Leading greyhound analyst Jason Lincoln thinks Nicholls’ three-year-old bitch has climbed up the ranks this year.

“Over the last six months I think she has risen to be one of the best stayers in Queensland,” Lincoln said.

“On the back of last week’s effort, she will be very popular in Thursday night’s race as all of Australia saw how good she was here last week.

“A lot of people might not have been aware of Days of Thunder before last Thursday and they most certainly are now.”

She travelled to Sandown Park and Wentworth Park earlier this year and while she ran well at big odds, in the end, they were fruitless trips.

While the team did not come back with the big prize money, the trainer thinks his star dog returned with maturity and race sense she did not have before the trip, which has led to her strong form back at home.

It also put extra miles into her legs, which has her rock hard fit for the 2022 carnival.

Days of Thunder has only run outside the money once in her six starts since returning to Queensland – including three victories – with one of those being the Chairman’s Cup on the milestone occasion for the Brisbane club earlier this year.

“The last four or five runs, they have been enormous as she just gets better with racing,” Nicholls said.

“She has been brilliant the last couple of weeks, we have been really excited with how she has gone.”

Lincoln, who is the host of The Catching Pen, SKY's premier greyhound program every Tuesday on Sky Racing 2, believes Days of Thunder is the type of dog who attracts people to the racetrack.

“The run was shades of her run in the back in the big race she contested in January,” Lincoln said.

“She has that type of motor where she gets out the back and people think she is no hope but she will come home from the back.

“They are exciting types of dogs to watch.”

Nicholls has been around dogs for much of his life and admits his current kennel star is the best dog he has ever put the polish on, declaring greyhounds of her quality do not come around every day.

Based west of Brisbane in greyhound heartland, the experienced trainer whelps the majority of his racing team and knew from an early age that Days of Thunder had some promise.

“Once we put her over more ground, you could tell she had something there,” he remembers.

“We stretched her out and she was really putting in across her last sections.

“The 500 and 600 metre races she has always run time and she was always going to be a stayer out to 700 metres, she won't race any different now.”

Nicholls has enjoyed an interesting journey in racing.

He was around dogs as a young fella, starting out early as 14 years of age, before getting involved in the harness game, through his wife Tracy’s family.

His heart was always in greyhound’s and he eventually got back there, now boasting a kennel of 38, with 15 race dogs, while the rest of the team is educating and bringing them through.

“It was always my goal to semi-retire from work and get a property and get back into racing dogs, I probably did not expect to have this may dogs,” he said.

“This is what you aim for, to have a dog like this and be competitive in these sort of races and jump in the car or on a plane and go race your dogs somewhere.

“The team is pretty handy at the moment, which is great.”

New South Wales is $1.40 to win its third Origin Greyhound Shield for celebrity coach Terry Hill, with Queensland – led by Ben Hannant – $2.80 underdogs.

Betting on the series result, for which New South Wales (2-1) is the $2.10 favourite, can be found in the ‘Racing Extras’ section on the TAB app and website.