Caption: Tracey Nicholls with Ipswich Rising Stars Final (520m) winner Kia Kaha. (Photo: Just Greyhound Photos)

By Pat McLeod

For trainer Warren Nicholls and young sprint ace Kia Kaha, it wasn’t love at first sight.

“I probably rang the owner three times in the first six weeks I had the dog, warning that she could be coming home soon,” Nicholls laughs on reflection.

“It wasn’t a case of me not wanting the dog, but more a case of she didn’t want me.

“She just wouldn’t settle in. She would dig a hole in the emptying yard and bury her head so that I couldn’t see her.

“She would go into her bed and bury herself underneath her blankets. The dog just wasn’t settling in.

“And then one day it just all clicked and she hasn’t taken a backward step from there.

“I would not say it was a painful six weeks, but it was a case of, ‘If you don’t like it here, then there’s no use you being here’.

“But I am probably glad that she did change her mind.”

Nicholls, in fact, is very glad.

A quick look at Kia Kaha’s stats and what lies ahead explains why.

To date the Zipping Garth x Daniel’s Loss bitch has raced 26 times for 13 wins and 11 placings and $105,210 in prizemoney.

With early promise proven with wins over 331m and 520m at Albion Park, she then turned heads with a second to WA’s Daddy’s Girl (Kody Charles) in the Group 2 Bogie Leigh Futurity Final (520m) during the recent Summer Carnival at ‘The Creek’.

Then, recently, she has conquered the Ipswich track with wins there in the Golden Chase Sprint Final (431m) and the Rising Stars Final (520m).

This Saturday night she is back at the Ipswich showgrounds track to contest the semi-finals of the very lucrative Golden Chase (520m) series.

The winner of the final at Ipswich the following Saturday, April 13, will take home $100,000.

Nicholls also reveals Kia Kaha’s early settling in issues at his Churchable kennel wasn’t the only initial hiccup in their relationship.

“When the owner (Sally Evans) originally asked me to take the dog, I said I couldn’t for at least another four months because my kennels were full,” the respected trainer said.

“I have known Sally and her family for at least 10 years and by the time I could take Kia Kaha I fully expected them to have gone with somebody else.

“But they did wait and I am glad they did.”

Nicholls predicts Saturday night will be a very good test for his talented chaser, with both the alley (Box 8) and the class of the field, potential hurdles.

“Box 8 will be interesting, but I think she can get across from there,” he said.

“But certainly I would have preferred her to be in an inside box.

“There are a lot of good dogs across the four semi-finals and especially in this one.

“Comedy Act (Mick Johnston, Box 6) is a very good dog.

“He’s probably just a bit green and ‘puppyish’ at the moment. But if he puts it all together he could blow us all away.

“Tommy (Tzouvelis) and Jedda (Cutlack) have got some very good dogs across the semis. They are reaping the rewards of a lot of hard work.”

Tzouvelis has Scripted (Box 3) and Gone Walkabout (Box 4) in Kia Kaha’s heat as well as another five semi-final hopefuls, including Scarlatti, who won her heat in a sizzling 30.08.

Also from the same kennel is Jedda Cutlack’s very formidable, Vince Curry Maiden winner Duffman, who has the cherished Box 1 in the fourth Golden Chase semi-final on Saturday night.

Nicholls said that although there is a growing excitement around Kia Kaha, the weight of expectation was not a factor for him.

“When the dogs go past that line, I have moved on and I’m now focused on the next week,” he said.

“I’m not worried about what anybody has to say about the dog’s performance.

“The dog will have run its race and whatever happens I don’t let that get to me.

“There are nights after good wins when people ask me why I am not more excited, but I will have achieved what I wanted to achieve and I have never been one for getting too carried away.

“I certainly like racing at the elite level, but I don’t want to be that person who runs around saying: ‘Look what I have got! Look what I have got!’

“That is not me. I just love being competitive and I live that through these dogs.

“No matter what the result, good or bad, I just knuckle down and keep going. Once it is done, it is done and you have to move on to next week, win, lose or draw.

“I don’t begrudge anyone who wins races. The people who are doing well at the moment, they deserve the rewards.

“I am not jealous of anyone who puts in, because I know how hard this game is. It is a lifestyle, but if you put it down to an hourly rate, well, we are not real smart businessmen.

“It is good when you are at this stage and making some money, but it is pretty tough at the start.

“You have to create your own luck. That’s exactly what you have to do – with the hours that you work, the money that you spend and the dogs that you breed.

“Too many people think they are entitled in this game.

“There is no entitlement, except working your bum off. That is guaranteed and you just keep getting up at 4am and getting home at midnight.”