Caption: Owner/trainer Greg Paull with Midnight Bandit after a win in a heat of the Group 3 Dashing Corsair (710m) at Albion Park during the Winter Carnival. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)
By Pat McLeod
Like many in greyhound racing who live outside the glow of group racing success, Greg Paull wants to feel that spotlight, even if it’s just once.
And it’s not the lucrative prizemoney or five minutes of fame that the Lockyer Valley (west of Brisbane) trainer craves. He just wants to know what that feeling is like.
“Recently I came close,” he says.
“In the final of the (Group 3) Dashing Corsair at Albion Park my bloke (Midnight Bandit) came fourth.
“I told the trainers of the three placegetters that I would happily give away the prizemoney just to stand on that podium.
“It didn’t even have to be the top step. Anywhere on that podium would have suited me.
“They thought I was joking.”
On Thursday night Paull and Midnight Bandit are back at ‘The Creek’ on the fringe of the racing spotlight.
This time it is the final of the Queensland Distance Championship over 710 metres.
It is not a group race, but holds prestige and also the allure of winning through to the Group 1 National Distance Championship at Adelaide’s Angle Park on August 24.
Paull isn’t getting carried away with his chances.
Midnight Bandit is $81 in early betting for a reason.
He turns five in December, this will be his 103rd start and, although he has some good statistics, he is no champion – 102 times to the track for 21 wins, 24 placings and $62,105 in prizemoney.
But, despite the facts, Paull hopes the stars are aligning for a ‘Rocky’-type moment.
“The reality is his age,” Paull says bluntly.
“But you know, sometimes the fairytale does come true.
“What I do know about this dog is that he never says ‘never’.
“Every time it is 110 per cent.
“He is not a fast starter, but he finds the rail and stays glued to it.
“He won’t go around dogs, but if you are ahead of him and shift wide just a bit, he will bullock his way through.
“Bandit is a big, strong dog who just keeps coming.
“His finish is what gives him a chance. He will be there coming home.
“He is a 42.4sec dog every day of the week. So, if the Valpolicellas come out and run a 41.50, he is no chance.
“But just remember, last week’s 710m prelude (which included Group 1 queen Valpolicella, the very talented Icy Eyes and Tom Tzouvelis’s always competitive foursome of Amendola, Scintillate, Pursuer and Scarlatti) was won in 42.73.
“Bandit is an old war horse, but on Thursday night, if the leaders stumble, if they fan out at the turns, if they give him a chance, he will take it.”
Paull bought Midnight Bandit as a tried race dog from South Australia. He had followed a similar path previously with success.
Bandit certainly was ‘tried’. He came north with 59 starts already under his belt.
“I was more interested in his brother (Midnight Blast) and Bandit came as part of the deal,” Paull explains.
“I remember he had won about $18,000 in prizemoney and I bought him for $1000.
“His prizemoney is now just over $62,000. So that’s not a bad return.”
Paull and Bandit’s ‘dream big’ moment may be unlikely, but far from impossible, on Thursday night.
The six-dog final certainly gives Valpolicella more room to exert her dominance, but overall it is a good field without being an outstanding line-up for a State final.
Midnight Bandit will jump from Box 1, with Valpolicella coming out of the four alley.
Tzouvelis’s Amendola and Scarlatti are out of the widest boxes, Wayne Spann’s Buckeye Bullet is in the ‘two’, while Jamie Hosking’s Dundee Lexi returns from a second in Sunday’s Darwin Cup and will exit Box 5.
Paull says Bandit has a following across Australia and his win or place odds are always ‘juicy’ whenever he does salute.
“There are plenty who watch him every time he goes around,” he says.
“My brother Jonathan, who lives in Sydney, watches him all the time. He is up here on holidays at the moment and will be there on Thursday night.
“Bandit is a bit like me. Away from the track he doesn’t over-exert himself. We will go for a walk together at our own pace.
“But at the track he knows what it is all about.
“On Thursday morning I will know whether he is right and feeling his best. When he is, he comes up to me, jumps up and gives me a big hug.”
The Queensland Sprint Champion ship Final (520m) will also be contested on Thursday night with Selena Zammit’s Cluster, out of Box 1, the early favourite, with Travis Elson’s Super Scrub (Box 6) and Bear’s Bullet (Box 7) the next favoured in the early markets.
