Isabella Turner turns 13 on Friday and has never anticipated a birthday so much - not because she will become a teenager - but due to her greyhound Mr. Informant qualifying for that night's group two Ladbrokes Richmond Derby.
Mr. Informant could be the rank outsider in Friday's $40,000 to the winner final, but he qualified in his heat as a $101 roughie and after drawing box one is in the big race with a chance for Isabella, his "unofficial owner-trainer."
While Mr. Informant is listed as being owned and trained by Suzette Turner, his behind-the-scenes conditioner and actual owner is her 12-year-old grand-daughter Isabella, who bought the dog as a 12-week-old puppy.
Suzette Turner said: "Isabella has always been passionate about greyhounds and saved pocket money for years before paying $8,000 for Mr. Informant, a son of Wow and Bradley Barnes' former good race bitch Let's Win Meisha.
"We were so excited when Mr. Informant led early before running second to Zipping Chaplin in his Derby heat, to such an extent Isabella was in tears."
"What a reward it would be for her if Mr. Informant happened to win on Friday night.
"Just to have a finalist is fantastic for Isabella but Mr. Informant has come up with the rails draw, the box he definitely needed, to have a chance.
"Although Minnie Finn has Both Bowers Ace and Poco Rico in the final and her daughter-in-law Courtney Barnes trains Zipping Chaplin, Minnie's brother Bradley Barnes, who bred Mr Informant, whispered to us after the heats that he hoped Isabella's dog would win.''
When Mr. Informant clocked a smart 29.70 getting beaten in his Derby heat, he was having his first 520m start in five months.
"Isabella was keen to nominate him for the Derby heats and I said to her 'why not?' because although he will be the extreme outsider in the series he is going well and you can't win it sitting at home,'' Suzette Turner said.
Mr. Informant
Flash Jet became John Grief's first track record holder in his 30 years as a trainer when he set a new time standard for the Richmond 320m on Friday night.
When Flash Jet led throughout he notched his 10th win in just 11 appearances and his time of 17.76 was much quicker than the 17.83 recorded by Sicario Beast 10 months earlier.
"I don't know where Flash Jet will race next but the $40,000 to the winner Ladbrokes Thunderbolt at Grafton in June is probably a long-range goal,'' Grief said.
"I'm not rushing Flash Jet because he has only just turned two.
"But I am disappointed that 280m races are no longer programmed at Wentworth Park.
"Surely a top grade 280m on a Thursday night, perhaps with a preferred box draw, would be appealing to punters as well as owners and trainers.''
