Nationals retain ‘champion’ aura

Caption: Best Sun and trainer Eddie Batiste take centre stage after the running of the inaugural Nationals sprint final at Sydney’s Harold Park in 1965. 

by Jeff Collerson

THE National Sprint and Distance Championship finals return to Adelaide on August 24 for the first time since 2016, when Ring The Bell took the long-distance crown back to Victoria and the Cameron Butcher-trained Worm Burner kept the sprint trophy at home in SA.

But the Distance Championship has eluded SA trainers since 2006 when Bothing, trained by Bosko Stamenkovic from Two Wells, took out the final at Launceston.

Stamenkovic, 67, said: “I bred Bothing, who was by Carlisle Jack, the 2002 Golden Easter Egg winner, but I trained her for Andrew Leigh and a couple of his mates.

“She was related to Footrot Flats, a handy stayer I had when I began my involvement in the sport in 1977.

“All the dogs I’ve since had have been related to her and I have fond memories of Bothing because she gave me my first and only group one winner.

“Unfortunately, I won’t have a starter this year because a good bitch I train called Magical Mystic, who would have been a contender, has broken down.

“She has won 13 of 28 starts and took ground off the boom stayer Like Wildfire at the end of 595m at Angle Park in March.”

Dual winners of the Distance Championship have been Queensland’s Boronia Blossom, who won at Melbourne’s Olympic Park in 1996 and at Albion Park 12 months later, along with Victoria’s Sweet It Is, successful in 2014 at Cannington and 2015 at Wentworth Park.

Sandi’s Me Mum, still considered among the all-time greats from WA, took out the Sprint finals in 1989 at Cannington before travelling to Victoria and annexing first prize at Sandown a year later.

The Nationals were launched in 1965 as the greyhounds’ answer to harness racing’s famed Inter-Dominion Championship, and initially only a short distance series was staged.

Best Sun, trained by Eddie Batiste in the ritzy, up-market Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill, won the 1965 final over 457m at Harold Park.

An outstanding trainer, Eddie Batiste invariably attended the track impeccably dressed in a tie and a three-piece suit, often complemented by an old-fashioned fob-watch chain.

Two years earlier Eddie received publicity away from the dogs.

While walking his greyhounds through bushland in a huge north-west Sydney park, he had discovered the bodies of Margaret Chandler and Dr Gilbert Bogle, a CSIRO scientist.

Their murders dominated Sydney newspaper headlines for weeks, but have never been solved.

In 1969 the stayers received their overdue recognition with the initial running of the National Distance Championship, taken out at Wentworth Park by Amerigo Lady.

She was trained on the NSW south coast by the legendary Neville Ballinger, and was owned by Melbourne’s Charles ‘Buck’ Buchanan.

‘Buck’ was a great punting character, who loved nothing more than beating the bookies.

He once imported from Ireland a champion coursing bitch called Killanahan, who, because she had never raced behind the mechanical lure, was graded in Australia as an unraced maiden.

She beat the grader and the bookies by bolting in first-up, after being backed off the map, over 300m at NSW’s the Wyong straight track.

Killanahan had been virtually unbeatable in coursing events in Ireland, so behind the drag lure at Wyong she made short work of her maiden opponents.

Most versatile winner in Nationals history has to be Queensland’s Dashing Corsair, who was able to win the 2009 Sprint Championship at Sandown before landing the Distance final at Albion Park two years later.

One of the earliest winners was Red Zero, who won the 1969 Sprint final for Lenny Tonks, who had begun his training career racing fox terriers at unregistered ‘race’ meetings!

Best acceptance speech has to be that of knockabout Sydney trainer Billy Fletcher, a former professional boxer, whose dog Acclaim Star won the 1979 final at Perth’s Cannington.

Sir Charles Court, premier of WA, made the presentation to Billy, who responded with the usual thanks to the sponsors and to the club.

He then brought the house down when he said: “I’d also like to thank, what’s your name mate?” turning to Sir Charles.

The Premier must have been a good sport because his reply was: “Charlie Court.”

So, Billy returned to the microphone and said: “Oh yes, and thanks to Charlie Court here.”

Naturally the crowd, along with Sir Charles, loved it!

Paul Cauchi, now based in Queensland and still training winners, landed the 1976 National Sprint Championship with Clover Duke.

In those days Cauchi, assisted by his foreman and still successful trainer Charlie Gatt, had kennels at Kellyville, just down the road from Billy Fletcher’s property.

Clover Duke’s Nationals final win was at Melbourne’s Sandown.

It is doubtful if there has been a more impressive Championship victory than the amazing last-to-first performance of western Sydney couple Jane and John Carruthers’ dog Rapid Journey at Cannington in 1998.

Although Rapid Journey retired as the winner of a Golden Easter Egg, Melbourne Cup, Adelaide Cup and Topgun, his National Sprint success remained Jane Carruthers’ favourite performance.

“He came from last to beat an outstanding field, to this day I still don’t know how he did it,” she recalled.

“That was a phenomenal performance, he had a tremendous will to win and was so intelligent.”

While a string of group 1 races around Australia now carry greater financial rewards than the Nationals, these time-honoured Championships retain immense prestige value.

Among the final winners in fairly recent times are the mighty Fernando Bale and Good Odds Cash, who won the 2015 and 2022 Sprint finals at WP along with Victorian-trained Distance victors Fanta Bale and Tornado Tears in 2017 and 2018 and WP 720m record holder Super Estrella on her home track in 2022, with Palawa King, now edging towards $1 million in earnings, scoring at The Meadows last year.

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