Caption: Trainer Brenda Oakey with her prolific winner Harry after his win in The Bonfire at Angle Park. (Photo: Kurt Donsberg)

South Australian News With Kurt Donsberg

“I USED to watch the greyhound races for years and years and I just loved them,” says trainer Brenda Oakey.

 And now we fast forward a few years and Brenda’s proving that not only does she love the dogs – they love her too.

A chance meeting with long-time greyhound participants Des Hockley and Renata Maruszczyk a couple of years ago set the wheels in motion for Brenda.

“I bought a Kalden Komoto x Heading My Way pup in late 2019 and then I had to find somewhere to rear them,” she said.

“That’s how I met Des and Renata. I bought ‘Ruby’ first after Des said he had room for her with a litter he was rearing, so I asked if he had room for one more. He said yes, so I went straight back and bought ‘Opal’.

“Des and Ren were great. I learnt so much from them. They let me help with their dogs and in October 2020 I got my handler’s license and started catching, and then boxing dogs. I loved it, but was really keen to see my dogs hit the track when they were ready.”

It turns out they were both ready to debut on  February 7, 2021. ‘Ruby’ raced as Fired Up and ‘Opal’ raced as Run Girl Run…..and Brenda boxed them both.

Run Girl Run was in the first race of the night and she jumped beautifully and fired to the front. Things got tight on the home turn and she copped some interference before finishing sixth – but with some positive signs.

Fired Up went around in the second race of the night and was at the ‘pointy end’ of it for a good part of the event but was just pipped on the post for second, running a good third.

Brenda is known for being happy and always smiling, and even though her dogs didn’t win you could see she was pleased.

Fast forward 10 days and both dogs lined up again. This time Fired Up went first and went bang. She didn’t jump the best but showed plenty of smarts in the run to find the rail on the home turn and sailed away for her first win, and Brenda’s first success as an owner.

“It was unbelievable, I was just so happy,” she said. “I had just enough time for a winning photo, but then had to get ‘Opal’ (Run Girl Run) out for the next race!”

Not to be out done by her sister, Run Girl Run jumped from box seven and showed the same early dash from her debut run. She collared the early leader and then she too set sail for home. She stretched right out up the home straight and Brenda had her first two career winners in the space of 20 minutes.

“I really couldn’t believe it after ‘Ruby’ won, but when ‘Opal’ won as well I didn’t know what to say!” said Brenda. “It was a dream come true and I had the greyhound bug!

“I applied for my licence in October 2021 and then started training on my own. CG Syndicates advertised two pups on greyhound-data.com out of Heading My Way who is the mother of the three bitches I had – Fired Up, Run Girl Run and Hey Grace.

“Being very fond of my girls who I was having fun with, I rang and bought the two unnamed bitches who turned out to be Dolly Quokka, who’s now won 10 races, and Quokka Two who has won five.

 “CG Syndicates watched their progress and stayed in contact. They rang and asked if I was interested in a couple of their dogs and I jumped at the chance. They sent over Flying Foo Foo, Burano and Zipping Mork – all have done well so far.”

The news of Brenda’s results spread and she soon had others knocking on her door.

“Mr Buccilli and his syndicates own a few dogs and I’ve been very fortunate to have a few in my care,” she said.

“Harry is one of those and he has been a wonderful dog. I was very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to train him when his previous trainer retired. Harry has given us some great wins with the biggest so far being The Bonfire in the Festival of Fire Series at Angle Park.”

Harry has raced 41 times for Brenda in South Australia and won 14 times with 15 minor placings

“Another of these syndicate dogs is Fiorano – aptly named after The Fiorano Circuit which is the private racetrack owned by Ferrari. He is an elite athlete. His power and speed is incredible and it is an honour to work with him, he is so exciting.”

Fiorano has raced three times for Brenda with two wins and a second. He won at Gawler on the  July 21 and set the track alight running 30.45 (the next fastest winning time was 30.99 and the track record is 30.22)

“I can’t wait to see just how far and how fast he can go. He’s a flying machine.”

And what does the future hold for Brenda Oakey?

“I hope to be able to continue to grow and improve as a trainer,” she said. “Hopefully I can instil enough confidence and self-belief into our dogs to make sure they know how good they are, and hopefully they want to take us to a Group race somewhere!

“Greyhound racing is the best sport in the world!”