Caption: Bruised trainer Dicky Pearce accepts the winning trophy after Dash Of Blue took out the Shane McQueen at Angle Park. (Photo: Kurt Donsberg)

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NEWS With KURT DONSBERG

AFTER a handy run in the heats, Dash Of Blue proved too good in the recent final of the Shane McQueen at Angle Park.

It was the 20th running of the feature race named after former Greyhound Racing South Australia CEO, Shane McQueen, who passed away after a battle with cancer.

Dash Of Blue, trained by Richard ‘Dicky’ Pearce, was among the fancied runners in the final, starting third favourite. But with an unblemished record from box one, he had everything in his favour.

“He jumped well from the inside draw and going past with a lap to go I thought he was in a good position” said Pearce.

“He put in a good run in the heats last week and I thought he’d run home stronger and he did.”

Dash Of Blue ran out a comfortable two-length winner with Could Be King for Ben Rawlings in second place and Springvale Max for Gavin Harris holding down third.

Unfortunately, a trialling mishap saw Pearce unable to box his blue star.

“I had to get Sharyn (Gray) to box him tonight,” said a jovial Pearce.

 “I put him out of the 600m boxes last week and he reared and hit me fair under the chin and put me straight on my backside. I hit the concrete and I don’t bounce too good!

“I look like I’ve gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson but it’s all worth it now.”

After being involved in greyhound racing for decades, Pearce was asked if Dash Of Blue was one of the better dogs he’s trained.

“He’s a handy dog,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a real good dog. Ned’s Chance a couple years back was a good dog, but Pancho was probably my best.”

‘Pancho’ is Where’s Pancho and was trained by Pearce from late 2009 through to 2013. He finished with career stats of 47 wins and 30 minor placings from 100 starts and won a touch over $80,000 in prizemoney.

“Pancho was a good dog. He won on many tracks. Dash Of Blue isn’t three yet so who knows, maybe he’ll be my next Pancho?”

Agent Nine Nine gets smart after spell

A handy dog going around SA at the moment is Agent Nine Nine – or Susie as she’s known by her owners and trainer.

She is owned by the Five Agents Syndicate and I recently caught up with the syndicate manager Joss Stansborough.

“Living in Gawler the majority of my life I used to park up on the hill after work during the twilight meetings and watch the dogs and have a bet,” he said.

“My favourite dog was Jack In Black and after a few meetings I really wanted to get involved in ownership, but I didn’t know anyone at the time so never looked into it.

“Fast forward 12 months and I got into a conversation with a lady at work named Cathy Silvester – only to find out she was Ben Rawlings’ mum!

“I followed Ben’s kennel quite often so we used to talk about his dogs at work. Cathy introduced me to the Rawlings crew at Gawler one afternoon and from then on I’d sit with them at the meetings.

“Late 2020 Ben was getting ankle surgery so wasn’t going to be able to do the dogs for a while so I got my handlers licence to help out where I could and since then I’ve been catching at most meetings I can make outside work.

“The last couple of years I have been helping Neil and Tanya Rawlings break-in the pups, which has been interesting to see as I didn’t know what was involved with getting a greyhound ready back in the day.

“I really enjoy it and have learnt a lot from the Rawlings camp. They and Cathy do a lot for me and are like a second family.

“Shortly after that Cathy and I were chatting about buying a pup together. Agent Thirteen (one of Rawlings’ bitches) was due for a litter around that time so we decided on one of her’s. Cathy picked her out not long after she was born and we had her kennel and race name sorted pretty early days.

“When she was breaking-in, she was always a bit behind the rest of the litter – she was interested but nowhere near as switched on as the rest of the litter. Then she started trialling and we started second guessing our choice even more!

“She ran fourth at her first race start, and then won at start number two. The time wasn’t that flash but it was a win. She didn’t have much luck in her next few runs, but she didn’t look too good either. Ben was keen to give her a spell to mature and almost start again, so that’s what we did – and it worked.

“I have to mention Neil here. He spent a lot of time on Susie’s box manners which was a big issue with her early days, and now it’s almost her best trait.”

Susie resumed up the Murray Bridge straight. She’d never seen the track before and it showed.

“She was lost, she was out the back trying to get around dogs and it just wasn’t happening,” said Joss.

And then she went back to Gawler….and she went bang!

“She pinged out at Gawler,” said Joss. “She went 8.62 first split and went 22.43 overall – which was the best of the day! I was watching at work and couldn’t believe it. From then on, each week she just continued to shock and impress us. She’s only a tiny thing (25kgs) but she’s just doing everything right.

“We were stoked to get a couple wins in a row, and honestly couldn’t believe it. I saw Ben put her in an open class race and I did text him questioning him why, and after she won I heard all about it (now I know not to question the trainer).

“She’s now going for seven in a row at her next start and I think it’s safe to say none of us would have thought she would be where she’s at. She’s very special to us and hopefully she continues on in the form she’s in.

“The syndicate is myself, Cathy, two work mates – Jordan and Austin – and good mate Tyson Panagiotou, so lately work on Friday has been a lot more fun when we all come in happy after a Thursday night win.

“There doesn’t seem to be any feature races for her at the moment due to age restriction, so hopefully she just keeps on improving and maturing over the next few months and maybe have a crack at the Adelaide Cup heats. She’s only 2.5 years old this week so it’s exciting to think what may come of her.

“My good mate Tyson Panagiotou (who part owns She’s A Pearl) has got me involved in the majority of the dogs I’ve had shares in so I have to say a big thanks to him. We’ve had some handy ones like Threaten (Lewis) who now rules my house, Tangelo Fire and, most recently Panama Pepper who is flying and set to look at this year’s Brisbane Cup.

“I’m happy Susie is going so well so I can shout him a few beers for all the dogs he has got me involved in.”