Caption: Bobbie Jean Chaffey with King Amar, one of four chances she has in Tuesday night’s heats of the North Queensland Cup (498m) in Townsville. (Photo: Louise Partland)

By Pat McLeod

The mountain of work North Queensland trainer Bobbie Jean Chaffey is ploughing through is now reaping its rewards.

That trend is set to continue on Tuesday night at the Townsville showgrounds track with her kennel’s four starters across six heats of the North Queensland Cup (498m).

Chaffey has Solomon Cain (box 4) in heat one, Bar One Smokers (box 7) in heat three, King Amar (box 7) heat four and Grinch (box 6) heat 5.

On the night she has a total of 13 runners in the 12-race card.

That follows Friday’s meeting in Townsville when she had 18 starters and came away with five wins.

“That was a great result,” she said of Friday’s tally.

“I have had five winners once before and have had a number of fours and threes.”

With up to 50 dogs in work Chaffey is used to big numbers in all categories, however she is now also ticking the ‘quality’ box as well as ‘quantity’.

“Yes, that is the aim, to do well in the features, such as the North Queensland,” she said.

“We have been doing that recently, as shown in the Townsville Cup series.”

Chaffey won through to the Cup final with Bar One Smokers and in the Cup Consolation was placed third (Grinch) and fourth (Emgrand Centre).

Currently Chaffey has a 518-point lead in the Townsville premiership race with 133 wins and 337 placings so far this year.

Chaffey says her four runners in Tuesday night’s heats will all be competitive despite wide box draws.

“If they are close enough they will each be a good chance,” she said.

“Bar One Smokers has a strong run home so definitely is a contender.

“It really would be good to get through to the final.

“But it is a greyhound race and anything can happen.”

The North Queensland Cup is restricted to ‘local’ dogs, who must have been kenneled in the Townsville area for 76 days before the heats.

“It may be for local dogs, but that doesn’t mean this is an easy series,” Chaffey said.

“The quality of racing in Townsville at the moment is very high.

“And that quality is spread across many kennels. It is not a case of one or two trainers having all the good dogs.

“It won’t be easy to win any of these heats.”

Chaffey’s success this year has come despite a delicate juggling act.

She may have a large kennel and plenty of race commitments, but until about August this year she also worked fulltime.

“I was very lucky that my boss was very helpful with my greyhound commitments,” she said.

“Of course my partner Paul (Smith) and son Jake do a large amount of the work.

“Jake (19) has his trainer’s licence as well now.

“It is a real team effort.

“We are now at our busiest with the number of dogs in work, but that was how we planned it.

“So hopefully the wins keep coming.”

Among the strong contenders for the $16,000-to-the-winner NQ Cup are Tony Parker’s Showtime Isaac (heat 1), Steven Scott’s Inevitable (heat 2), Mark Partland’s Cool Bananas (heat 4) and Rhonda Essery’s Management Zero (heat 5) and Moustache Mick (heat 6).