Selena Zammit inspiring next generation of female greyhound trainers

By Andrew Smith

Selena Zammit is confident that the opening of The Q will help bring in more females to join the state’s greyhound training ranks.

The industry stalwart was celebrated for her contribution to the code in Queensland, receiving the Women in Racing award at the recent 2024 Queensland Greyhound Awards.

The 54-year-old received her trainer’s licence in 1997, and has trained in partnership with husband Michael out of their Willow Vale base for the majority of that time.

Runners like All Natural, Sequana and Cluster have been among her top dogs along the journey, with the 2023 Queensland Greyhound of the Year Jay Is Jay her biggest success story.

Zammit was always destined to be involved in the caper from the moment her father, the late former trainer and racing administrator Jeffery Jones, brought home a greyhound when she was just 12 years old.

Speaking after receiving the award, Zammit has been buoyed by the growth of the number of female trainers in the Queensland racing scene over the years.

“It was such a surprise and a real honour to take out the award - I had no idea that it was coming, so it was a real shock, but I feel privileged to have received the award,” Selena said.

“When my mum and dad first started out I was 13, it was more the men in racing, with their wives just tagging along for a day out or what not with their husband’s interests.

“But now it’s more the women are going out on their own and having a go, it’s great – it has evolved so much.

“I’ve been in the industry for 40 years and there’s a lot more women trainers out there now.

“The husband might have had a trainer’s licence and the wife has gone ‘you know what, I reckon I can do this too’ - so a few women have got their licences and it’s taken off.”

Zammit admitted the industry faced a challenge to bring more females into the sport.

Of the 624 registered trainers in Queensland, only 140 of them are women.

But with trialling and picnic meetings underway at the new world-class The Q at Purga, she believed that would help bring a new audience to greyhound racing, leading to more women taking up training.

“The industry’s going in leaps and bounds at the moment, we’re getting the new track in - I’ve seen in New South Wales where there’s kids who have friends that come to the races with them, and thought ‘how good is this’ and getting into it,” Selena said.

“I’m hoping with the new track, people will see it and realise it’s not too hard to train a greyhound.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, you’ve just got to know your dog…I find women are probably a bit more in tune with the dogs than some men!

“If you’ve got a love of dogs, just do it. There’s no right or wrong in training, you have a dog and you learn about your dog  and that’s when the training comes in - you know what your dogs need and what they don’t need.”

Selena said the responsibility lay with the older generation as well to ensure the training ranks remained strong in Queensland.

Tony Zammit, trainer of the 2024 Queensland Greyhound of the Year Valpolicella, will see his daughter Kristy enter the training ranks, ensuring the Zammit name remains prominent within the industry in future decades.

Selena singled out rising star Martina Kirillidis as a prime example of the quality of young female trainers making their mark in the Sunshine State.

“Martina is a great example of what a young person can do in this industry,” Selena said.

“She’s come up from Melbourne and set up camp here and winning races week in, week out and if that’s not enough encouragement for women just on what Martina’s done, I don’t know what is.

“I think they should use her as the pin-up girl for advertising, that women can do what the men can do and sometimes we can do it better!”

Kirrilidis took home her own gong from the evening, with her outstanding season rewarded with the Young Achiever Award.

The 34-year-old trains alongside partner Tim Britton out of a satellite kennel at Churchable, with the Britton greyhound racing clan opening the new operation at the back end of 2023.

Kirrilidis enjoyed a bumper 2024 with 78 wins and 200 placings from 560 starts, and already has 27 wins so far just three months into this season.

“The future goals would be to win a Group race to start off - I had Trooper Tears in the Ipswich Cup heats, and in the Final last year,” Martina said.

“Hopefully we can improve on that, I think we’ve got some up-and-coming dogs you might see in the future that have potential.

“I’m finally starting to step up my training in dogs going over the distance with Binny Doo, Akela Ola, Maid In Space and Shine A Light.”

Kirrilidis cites Selena Zammit and Sandra Hunt as her role models on the local level, along with Victorian-based trainers Andrea Dailly and Michelle Mallia.

Like Selena, the rising star is encouraging more young women to sign up to train.

“Get your foot in the door, go through all the motions, don’t get too ahead of yourself, take in all the information that everyone is giving you and figure out what sits right with you,” Kirrilidis said.

“Then you’ll figure out what your happy medium is and then your dogs will go off that really.”

It is not only South-East Queensland where the female greyhound trainers are flying.

The podium for the Townsville trainers’ premiership was filled by women, with winner Bobbie-Jean Chaffey followed by Hayley Wooler and Rhonda Essery.

Chaffey said it was an exciting time for female trainers in North Queensland.

“Since we’ve been involved in it, I’ve never seen three women take the full first, second and third spots,” Chaffey said.

“We’ve got a few young ones there coming along so I just see it growing, women are taking over the reins.

“You just need to jump in, start out by getting involved, helping out getting your handler’s licence and just helping out other trainers.

“We’ve got a young one in Townsville who helps us out boxing dogs – you just have to go there and persevere and you’ll get there in the end.”