Thursday, March 5, 2020
As Heathmere greyhound trainer Garry Marshman tells it, his wins with litter sisters Crazy Old Bird and Crazy Old Duck at Tara Raceway last Sunday came about after he had been looking for a couple of racing dogs to keep him interested while waiting for his pups to hit the track.
And surprisingly, despite his long and successful involvement in the sport, the double with the daughters of Fernando Bale x Marcus Glory had been Marshman’s first at any track.
Crazy Old Bird, having her second start for Marshman, kicked off his winning day when comfortably holding out Born A Guru to win the Greyhound-Data.com Maiden Stake (400 metres) by a length in 23.63 seconds.
By the time she had joined her sister Crazy Old Duck at Heathmere in late January the latter had already won two races at Tara Raceway, Marshman also keen to get Crazy Old Bird behind the finish-on-lure.
“She’d turned in an unsatisfactory performance at Geelong in December so I rang the owner (David Burnett) and said to him that I wouldn’t mind giving her a try at Mount Gambier,” he said.
“Dave, who had bred the litter, said I could have her for nine weeks. I’m not sure what that period of time was all about but anyway she’s managed to win a race before the expiry date so we’ll now have to see where it goes from here.”
Crazy Old Duck, purchased from Burnett for $500 after her first win, went into last Sunday’s Metal Worx Stake (512 m) on the back of three impressive 400 metre wins at the track and a top effort the previous week over 512 metres when running Tandiki to a 1¾ lengths second in 29.82 seconds.
An odds-on favourite after the previous week’s effort, it was a case of the white and blue bitch quickly finding the front from box three and then holding out Nitro Missile – appreciating a drop back to grade five – to win by two lengths in 29.93 seconds.
Marshman, who has the pair racing at Warrnambool tonight, said he was now looking at running Crazy Old Duck at The Meadows over 525 metres next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the September 2018 pups he’s waiting for are by Aston Dee Bee out of Shotgun Doll, a winner of 10 races including a heat and final of a grade five series at Tara Raceway in May 2017.