Caption: Trainer Rhonda Essery and Sharon Burnett with 100-1 winner Miss Harlow.
By MIKE HILL
WHAT are the odds of a greyhound ending its career as a 100-1 winner.
Huge, we can hear you say.
Well, that\’s exactly what the Rhonda Essery-trained sprinter Miss Harlow (Shoulders-Pearl\’s Choice) did at a Saturday meeting at Townsville last month.
The victory completed a winning foursome for the leading trainer, who later admitted it was the first time she had rugged up a 100-1 winner.
It also caused a slight problem for Essery.
She had to make a quick phone call to the O\’Keeffe family to tell them to come to the track 30 minutes later.
The O\’Keeffes were picking Miss Harlow up after the meeting to take her home to their western Queensland sheep and cattle property at Richmond as a family pet.
\”Dad Bradd, mum Danica and their young family had visited our kennels the day before asking if we had any greyhounds they could have as a pet,\” Essery said.
\”We decided on Miss Harlow and they fell in love with her.
\”We said she was racing the next day and they could pick her up after the meeting.\”
Miss Harlow had arrived at the Essery kennels as a \’giveaway\’ eight weeks earlier from the Riverina with a moderate record of two wins and five placings from 47 starts.
Her form didn\’t improve at Townsville with six unplaced starts before her \’shock\’ win final run.
The white and black sprinter might not be a champion but she ends her career with a statistic few can match.