Caption: Brooke and Jamie Ennis with My Bro Fabio after victory in the 2015 Temlee at The Meadows (Photo: GRV)
Group 1 The Temlee (525m)
$100,000 to the winner.
Group 1 The Rookie Rebel (600m)
$75,000 to the winner.
Group 1 The Zoom Top (730m)
$75,000 to the winner.
February 11. The Meadows.
By DAVID BRASCH
BACK in the middle of December, Brooke Ennis could not contain her emotions in the seconds immediately after the second running of The Phoenix.
Brooke’s superstar Amron Boy had failed by the narrowest of margins to run down rival superstar Wow She’s Fast in the $1 million-to-the-winner event.
Brooke could be seen behind the boxes rushing to hug Jacquie Greenough. It was genuine emotion on her face.
While running second in The Phoenix was something else, and earned Amron Boy a $200,000 payday, it was the fact Wow She’s Fast is a daughter of My Bro Fabio that was more behind Brooke’s emotion.
Brooke and her husband Jamie took My Bro Fabio (Turanza Bale-Flamenco) to the top, Group 1 victories in the Perth Cup, The Hume Cup and The Temlee. They successfully stood him at stud, but loved him like only Brooke and Jamie can know.
Never, until the arrival of Amron Boy, did Brooke and Jamie ever contemplate rating any other dog in their kennel in the same breath as ‘Fabio’.
“Brooke and I are a lot more sentimental about Fabio that anyone can imagine,” said Jamie. “We do not have kids of our own, but he was just like a kid of ours.
“It was more than just having a pet, so different.
“What he did for us … well the day he died was just devastating. He was not just another dog.”
It is not lost on Jamie and Brooke that My Bro Fabio’s greatest achievement, apart from his amazing race career and three Group 1 victories, is the fact he has left a champion like Wow She’s Fast the first $2 million career earner in greyhound racing.
“We are incredibly proud of his achievements, and to have produced a dog like Wow She’s Fast,” said Jamie.
“But, even if he never produced a winner at stud, we still loved him.”
Jamie and Brooke have every reason to hope their kennel’s newest superstar, Amron Boy, can take on and possibly win the up-coming The Temlee.
“It’s been eight years since Fabio won The Temlee,” said Jamie.
“I have always said to myself we would never get another one like Fabio. But here we are ranking Amron Boy his equal.
“I remember Fabio winning The Temlee like it was just yesterday and not eight years ago.
“He’d come back from winning the Perth Cup coming from last early to win.
“The Temlee was full of superstars – Dyna Villa, Chica Destacarda, Above All, Allen Deed, Flash reality, Marcus Joe, Awesome Project.
“But, he didn’t just loop the field and win. He weaved in and around dogs, inside and outside. There was not a dog at that time who could beat him.”
Fabio retired the winner of 26 races and $479,000.
“What prizemoney would he win today,” asked Jamie.
At stud, Fabio was noted for the strength he put into his progeny, but his crowning glory Wow She’s Fast came at the twilight of his career. Her two wins in The Phoenix added to her victories at Group 1 level in the Maturity and Sapphire Crown, the Launching Pad, the Shootout, the Showdown and Speed Star.
Jamie and Brooke know Amron Boy will more than likely run into Wow She’s Fast come this year’s running of The Temlee.
“It is a wonderful race, just like the Cox Plate in the horses,” he said. “Only the greats get a start and you have to be a Group star to be invited.
“And every year The Temlee is a great field.”
While Amron Boy is fast the emerging star with a Group 1 win in the Silver Chief and finals berths in a number of Group and feature events, Jamie and Brooke will only rank him the equal of Fabio.
Fabio was that good. The Temlee proved it.
