Caption: Bogie Hurricane winning recently at Albion Park (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
By Pat McLeod
Ryan Ayre’s plan for smart chaser Bogie Hurricane to develop into a genuine group-class distance greyhound takes another key step on Thursday night at Albion Park.
The Keybow – Bogie Lilly youngster will contest a very competitive 5th Grade heat over 600 metres, but the goal is longer distance and even more lucrative rewards.
Ayre, based out of Burpengary, north of Brisbane, has just two dogs in work, but also has a lengthy history, experience and success in the sport.
Bogie Hurricane, who is owned by Brisbane club president Les Bein, is a work in progress.
He certainly showed early promise over longer journeys.
At his first 710m assignment, at his 14th start, at Albion Park, he clocked a respectable 42.20.
At his very next start he ran second in the QGOLD Emerging stayers, to Amendola, over 600m.
Bogie Hurricane then won a heat of the Group 3 Dashing Corsair (710m) in 42.23, before finishing fifth in the final behind Tim Britton’s Play Nice.
“The (winter) carnival was great and for him (Bogie Hurricane) he was OK,” said Ayre.
“I give him a pass mark, but that’s about it.
“He is improving all the time and who knows what might happen.
“The eventual goal is the 700 metres. To date, for mine, he has been a little bit disappointing over that distance.
“I expected him to quite easily break the 42 seconds, but he hasn’t quite got there yet. But he is still very young, he has just turned two.
“That was partly the reason for giving him a freshen up and bringing him back to the 600 metres, before we go back up to 700 metres and the Nationals (State final, August 10).
“I just thought that after his first 700 metre race, when he went super, that there would soon be a little bit more improvement than what he shown.
“He has not gone backwards, but hasn’t really gone forwards either.
“At the moment 600 metres is probably his best distance. He has broken 35, in a trial, so there are no dramas on the clock.
“His runs during a race over the 600 metres have been really good. He does get home really well.”
Ayre says Bogie Hurricane’s race pattern is slow out of the boxes, and that is unlikely to change.
“Right from his first trials he has never shown a first split. He has always gone terrible there,” he said.
“He really didn’t show anything until he got up to 500 metres as a pup.
“He doesn’t do anything wrong, that’s just him. He just likes to come out, have a look, and size them up.
“That’s not really frustrating, because in fact sometimes I think it works in his favour. Unless you are a lid pinger you could be caught in the middle and be in trouble.
“But he seems to be able to navigate through a field quite well.”
Given the right race conditions on Thursday night, Ayre has no doubts his dog will be threatening.
“I always think he can win the race that he’s in, but with his race pattern it is hard to be super confident about him knowing that he will be giving them all a start,” he said.
“The dog is feeling really good now, so given a clean run he will break 35, but it is just getting that clean run.
“Having Valpolicella (Tony Zammit) there … if he jumps on the bunny and runs 34.60, well…
“I see the winner coming from one, two or three.
“My bloke is always better suited near the rails.
“But the reality is box draws are of little importance to him because he is always a length behind the second last dog anyway.
“He will be hard to beat on Thursday for sure.”
In past years Ayre, who has his own carpentry business, has been a full-time trainer, but says the small kennel suits these days.
“I only have five kennels and just the two race dogs at the moment,” he says. “The other three spots are for three Barcia Bale – Pump It pups that are just coming off the farm.
“They are 13 months old and haven’t gone to break-in yet. I’ve bought them myself and I’m having a crack with them.”
