Caption: Victorian jockey Jarrod Fry broke through for first Group One success after guiding Tuvalu to victory in the 2022 Toorak Hcp (1600m) at Caulfield.

By JARROD FRY

WHEN I got to the age of 16, I had a choice to make … greyhound racing or thoroughbreds.

Initially, it had to be thoroughbreds and I’ve been a jockey since then, riding the Group 1 Toorak Handicap winner and Group 1 Champions Mile runner-up Tuvalu.

But it was a tough decision for me because from the age of 12 I’d been going greyhound racing as much as I could.

I even spent my school holidays helping out at the Dailly’s farm at Anakie. In fact, during those holiday stints, George Dailly was like a father-figure to me.

I was a regular at greyhound tracks catching for everyone I could, the likes of Jason Thompson … you name it.

But I left school at 16 and was the right size to have a chance at riding. Now 34, I was initially apprenticed to Darren Weir at Warrnambool when he had a 10-horse team before he became the legend he did.

I then moved to Johnny Moloney at Caulfield and got to ride regularly for Peter Moody as well. Those two blokes gave me a great chance in my career as a jockey.

But I was always going to get a hands-on involvement into greyhound racing and if I can be of some help for newcomers wanting to do the same, then that would be great.

I have to relate that my beautiful wife Ashleigh had her first brush with greyhounds as a young girl when she fostered a greyhound for a few months. She was devastated when she had to give the dog back to be rehomed. That was to be a bond we share today.

When Ashleigh and I started dating, we were living in Melbourne. She is a lawyer and the pair of us share a pretty busy lifestyle.

But somehow we got to talking about greyhounds and both of us declared our love for the dog. It was then we decided to give greyhound racing a try ourselves. Ashleigh is in no doubt, like me, that the greyhound is the greatest of animals.

Our entry into greyhound racing came after I had spent a great deal of homework on how to do it.

Ashleigh and I discussed just what we would do and the decision was made to contact Paul Wheeler way back in 2016.

I reasoned that Paul would have so many prospective broodbitches, so many that he simply could not keep them all. I rang him and found him absolutely wonderful, and so helpful. I had a criteria I needed, especially for the bitch to have won in town. I knew her bloodlines would be superb.

Paul gave us a list of three we could buy and we picked Reiko Bale, a bitch by Yahoo Omar from one of Paul’s really great producers in Zambola Bale. She’d won six races and a couple of those had been at The Meadows.

At first, we kept Reiko Bale at home, but when the time came, we sent her to be mated, be whelped, have her pups reared, educated, pre-trained and then off to trainers.

We put her to Fabregas. Being in racing, I’d studied pedigrees for so long, but really got into the stud of greyhound bloodlines. I like to line breed but back in the fourth generation.

Well, that first litter really spoiled Ashleigh and I. They earned $250,000 and included Reiko Ablett, who won 16 races, Fab Reiko (14 wins), Reiko Rocketta (10 wins). A few made Group finals.

Reiko Bale’s kennel name was Chloe. She was more than just a dog, she was like a child to us. Ashleigh even got a ‘Chloe’ tattoo in her honour.

Obviously, after that initial success, we were spoilt but also hankering for more. We decided to buy a property, 14 acres at Haddon just near Ballarat. It suited my riding commitments and the property was right next door to an already established greyhound property.

All those years ago, working alongside the Dailly family, gave me an insight into establishing our own breeding and rearing complex.

We put up eight broodbitch yards, 10 pup runs, a specially lined shed with 10 kennels, sand competition runs and a bull ring.

We now breed one or two litters a year.

I knew the Dailly system. We have been very lucky that we could put this into operation ourselves.

But my catching days as a 12-year-old and older allowed me to work out pretty quickly who were the right, and wrong, people to ask for advice.

Even then I soon knew who to associate with. My wife calls it ‘street smarts’.

A quick walk around a racetrack and you soon know whose dogs look great and whose do not.

On our property, we spare no dollar for our dogs. That initial litter we bred gave us the finances to establish what we felt we wanted and needed for our venture into a greyhound property.

We love greyhounds so much, we would probably race for nothing if it came to it.

Of course, not all our dogs are great – it’s a fact of life. But Ashleigh has even got herself a trainer’s license for our own dogs, the ones who will not make it in town.

With me riding – sometimes seven days a week – the greyhound duties are shared between the two of us. If I’m riding trackwork or off to barrier trials, Ashleigh will do the dogs in the morning. If not, it is me.

But Ashleigh is such an organised person, she will have our entire week planned out around her work, my riding and the dogs.

Of course, after my riding career is over I have every intention of going full time into greyhound racing.

 But until that time comes, Ashleigh and I will continue as we are – breeding, rearing and sending the better ones out to trainers.

I have become infatuated by greyhound bloodlines and I will often sit in the sauna getting rid of some weight but searching through greyhound pedigrees at the same time. Yes, it is tragic, but it’s something that pays off.

As a kid, I was a sponge around the dog tracks. That is the best bit of advice I can give to anyone wanting to get into the industry.