By MIKE HILL

DAVID Plummer has only been training for three years, but in recent months he has been ticking off some career \’firsts\’.

With his small but smart team of three litter mates, Plummer, based at Takura in the Hervey Bay region, rugged his first winning treble at Bundaberg in late August and a week later landed his first major feature success with highly talented sprinter Fogelberg.

The brindle dog (SH Avatar-Rocket Banquet) was ultra-impressive in winning the $7875 Bundaberg Sprint (460m)  – his sixth victory on the trot – beating a classy field that included joint track record-holder Craig\’s Regret.

Fogelberg, the $2.15 favourite, jumped quickly from the outside box to cross his rivals and led going into the back straight before beating off the challenge of the Darren Taylor-trained pair Cosmic Colin ($2.80) and My Bro Beach ($16).

The Plummer chaser was strong on the line, winning  by two-and-a-quarter lengths and clocking a quick 26.15s – just .21s outside Shakey Diesel and Craig Regret\’s track best of 25.94s.

\”I\’m hoping he can soon break the 26s mark,\” the trainer said.

\”He\’s firing at the moment and I\’m confident he can do it, he just needs to maintain race fitness.\”

Plummer said he wasn\’t tempted to aim Fogelberg at last month\’s Bundaberg Derby over 550m.

\”He only turned two at the end of June and I\’d like him to mature at bit more before putting over more ground,\” he said.

\”His run-home times would suggest he should be able to handle 520m, but he\’ll see out the year racing over 460m.

\”I\’ll start preparing him the longer trip in the new year and, hopefully, by then restrictions and uncertainty caused by Covid-19 will have eased.\”

Plummer said landing his first winning treble with the only three runners – all litter brothers – in his kennels was a great thrill.

\”It\’s something that doesn\’t happen a lot,\” he said.

And to add a little bit of spice to the occasion all three started favourites in the respective races – Easy Eddie ($1.70), Fogelberg ($2.30) and Little Ripper($2.50).

\”I had a bit of a celebration at home that night … it was a good feeling,\” said Plummer, who is having an exceptional year with the lead and collar.

He is currently running third in the Bundaberg trainers premiership behind top Central Queensland conditioner Darren Taylor and Ricky Hassall and Fogelberg is leading the Bundy GOTY points tally.

From just six runners this year, Plummer has chalked up 23 wins, 13 seconds and 10 thirds for an impressive winning strike rate of 32 per cent and a place strike rate of 65 per cent.

Training seems to have come naturally to the former real estate business owner.

In fact, he achieved what most don\’t … he won first-up with his first ever race starter back in 2018.

However, he is quick to attribute a lot of his success to  veteran dog man Allen Kelly.

\”Allen\’s my dog checker, my mentor,\” Plummer said.

\”He\’s assisted me from day one and is the one who\’s kept me in there.

\”You can\’t have consistent runners without someone checking over your dogs.

\”Allen is one of the main reasons my dogs run so consistently week after week.\”

Plummer said of the three litter brothers Easy Eddie (17: 5-3-1) had broken in best but admitted Fogelberg had come along in leaps and bounds since then.

The sprinter\’s success in the $5250-to-the-winner  Bundy Sprint final had taken his career record to 11 wins and eight minor placings from just 23 starts.

However, Fogelberg\’s winning run came to a sudden halt last month when he was unplaced to Little Ripper (16: 6-3-2) in a Bundy Best 8 after suffering severe interference.

The sprinter was lucky to stay on his feet after being turned sideways in a roughhouse first corner crush.

Better known as Solomon around the kennels, Plummer said Fogelberg was a friendly, but demanding  dog.

\”He\’s the boss and he knows it,\” he said.

\”He has to be let out of the kennels  first and he knows Mondays are race days and Wednesday is bone day and he\’s always demanding until he receives his bone.\”

But Plummer doesn\’t mind, he\’s enjoying his success.

And things are looking even brighter for 2022 with the kennel looking forward to an influx of youngsters.

He has five pups by Dyna Steal from his 2018 GOTY Foxy Fireball (Destini Fireball-Foxy Bling) currently preparing for track careers.

\”They\’ll be having their first full trial in coming weeks,\” Plummer said.