Caption: The major success story of the Golden Greys Summer Carnival … so far, Selena and Mick Zammit’s Jay Is Jay (Photo: Box 1 Photography)

By Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club CEO LUKE GATEHOUSE

With just days remaining, the 2022-23 Golden Greys Summer Carnival already goes down as a classic.

This final week of course includes the big finals night at ‘The Creek’ on February 2.

Every aspect of this carnival has been a standout. Change is not always a good thing, but the significant changes to this carnival are already being celebrated.

One of the major positives was opening the carnival with a local focus – The Flame and then the Qgold series.

The Flame was the chance for Queensland bred greyhounds to win a spot in the $1million-to-the-winner gala Phoenix showdown in Melbourne on December 17.

This resulted in veteran trainer Douglas Gladman and his wife Heather being thrust into the spotlight when their special speedster, Tyanna Belle, won through.

She may have finished out of the placings in The Phoenix, but this gutsy little sprinter did Queensland proud.

The inaugural Qgold features night was also a standout. Again, Queensland-bred greyhounds across a variety of classes and distances were given the opportunity to win through to the finals night at Albion Park and raced for some great prizemoney.

So, a really boisterous start to the carnival.

Another positive was the compacting of the group racing component of the Golden Greys Carnival to six weeks. I don’t believe this had any negatives, but focused the attention on the high end of the carnival.

But for me, the biggest positive of this summer carnival has been the showcasing of a brilliant crop of youngsters coming through. The quality of these dogs from Queensland and northern NSW has just been ridiculous.

It is great to see the big names come to Queensland for our major carnivals. What is even better is us producing our own stars and that has certainly been the case this summer.

Of course the story of the carnival (with a week to go) has been one of those dogs – Selena and Mick Zammit’s Jay Is Jay.

And what a story.

It has its origins with Jay Is Jay’s mother Kealoah being the last dog that Selena’s father, the Late Jeff Jones, trained. That dog is owned by Selena’s mother Lillian Jones.

The story then jumps to 2019 when Victorian trainer Steve White sent his star chaser Sennachie to the Zammits for some big races. During his stay he won a bunch of majors, but significantly they included the Qld Derby, the Golden Ticket and the Group 1 Gold Bullion.

So amazed were the Zammits in this dog, it’s ability and temperament, that they decided  he would be the sire for Kealoah’s first litter.

The result included Jay Is Jay.

During this carnival this dog has won the Qld Derby, the Golden Ticket and is in the running to emulate his famous father by winning the Gold Bullion.

So, a great story.

But it has only come to fruition through the drama of Golden Ticket night with the two dogs, Jay Is Jay and WA’s Throttle, running the same time – 29.52. That’s as tense as I have seen it on a racetrack in a long long time, with the ticket winner being decided by a ballot.

Yes, however this carnival ends, it will be remembered as special for a whole lot of reasons.

For me, just as special as all of the above has been the atmosphere throughout. It has been a very friendly carnival.

We try to provide a very good customer experience at the Albion Park track and we have received more than our usual share of praise for providing that experience.

It doesn’t happen by chance, but by hard work and by looking after the most important people in greyhound racing – the participants.