Each month Chase puts the spotlight on a person and/or their ‘best friend’ – a story that gives an insight into the true heart of greyhound racing. It showcases all that is good in this sport and is a monthly tribute to much-loved greyhound identity Daryl ‘Albert’ Gleeson.

By DAVID BRASCH

PAUL Demicoli likes to spread himself around.

The 55-year-old fight promoter is a newcomer to greyhound racing, has a team of successful trotters in WA, and could be heading to Flemington come November with a runner in the Melbourne Cup.

“I suppose you can say I’ve got beginner’s luck,” said Paul.

Not so.

Paul lives at Yatala and operates a fight gym at Slacks Creek.

“One of my mates at the gym bred a litter of pups, by Aston Dee Bee from Solo Mission and I decided to buy a couple of them, a dog and a bitch,” Paul told Chase Magazine.

“They are being reared at George Zammit’s at Glamorganvale and I’ve been up a couple of times to see them,” he said.

“They are rising 10 months old.”

But the Melbourne Cup holds Paul’s greatest interest in coming months.

He has a small share in a horse called Gladman, a five-year-old gelding sourced by Robbie Waterhouse for Darby Racing that has already qualified for this year’s Melbourne Cup.

“It’s my first foray into thoroughbreds for a long while and I bought a small share late last year,” he said.

“Gladman cost Darby Racing $200,000 to buy and land in Australia, and he went straight into training with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.”

Instantly made his presence felt winning the $500,000 Lexus Roy Higgins at Flemington in March to gain a golden ticket into the $7.5 million Melbourne Cup.

At the time of writing, Gladman had started nine times for five wins and earned $370,000.

The stable is talking up his Melbourne Cup chances.

But Paul is no stranger to racing success.

“I also race a trio of trotters in WA and we’ve had some great success,” he said.

Demicoli has three trotters, Dark Secret, Aldebaran Sundown and Grand Majestic Bells.

“I’m very blessed with the horses that I have that they’re earning money and we place them well,” he said.

“Dark Secret has won 14 races and Aldebaran Sundown has won four this year.”

But his fight promotions have been just as successful.

“I’ve been promoting fights all my life,” said Paul.

His stable includes Justin Tafa a New Zealand professional mixed martial artist who is in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

His brother, Junior Tafa, is a former Glory heavyweight kickboxer and now a MMA fighter in the heavyweight division of the UFC.

Of Gladman’s Melbourne Cup chances, he says the stable wants to get the horse into the Cup with around 52kg and then will be happy with his chances with the light weight,

But Paul is also keen on those pups galloping around the Zammit paddocks at Glamorganvale.

“It’s my first try at greyhound racing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to them racing.”