According to Lewiston greyhound trainer Kevin Bewley, Adelaide owner Cledwyn Jones had purchased the nicely-bred Escape Inn after being impressed by the early speed she had shown in races on Victorian tracks.
And connections certainly would have been more than happy with the daughter of Black Magic Opal x Tantrum’s early dash in Thursday’s Commercial Hotel Maiden Stake (400 metres) when she led all the way to defeat Unique Jimmy by seven lengths in 23.49 seconds.
However, Bewley said the win – Escape Inn’s first at start number 13 – was a far cry from earlier in the year when, at her first start at Mount Gambier’s Tara Raceway, she was never out of trouble in the race.
“To be honest, afterwards I was seriously thinking of suggesting to the owner that we retire her. Anyway, I initially put her on hold and she started to recover very quickly from what had been a pretty tough run.
“And as she got better and better, it appeared as though she had lost nothing in ability. She resumed with four races at Gawler over 400 metres – each run a little better than the previous one,” he said.
For Bewley, Thursday’s win had been his first at Tara Raceway since Elsie’s Choice had been successful in early May. Escape Inn’s win had also been his second in two days after Donovan Bale had won over 400 metres at Gawler’s Wednesday meeting.
Bewley’s involvement in greyhound racing goes back to 1987 when he began a 10-year period as Adelaide Greyhound Racing Club (Angle Park) Racing Manager.
“After that I cut ties with the sport and it wasn’t until about six years ago when I was looking for a hobby that I decided to look at getting a greyhound,” he said.
“Together with my wife Carolyn we decided to purchase a property at Lewiston, mainly to cater for her poodles. However, I did have in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t mind a greyhound to train.
“So what started out as a one-dog hobby has now developed into pretty well a full-time job with 15 dogs currently in work.”