There’s an old saying in greyhound racing that if you can lead around the first turn in a feature race, you’re more than halfway home. While it’s more of a reference to sprinting events, it’s becoming just as relevant in the Ladbrokes 715.
Queensland-trained, NSW-owned Autumn Storm took out the fourth edition of the world’s richest staying event on Friday night at The Gardens doing exactly that, jumping to the lead and then refusing to be passed by her pursuers.
She joined fellow Queenslander Valpolicella who also led throughout from box 1 last year to win the race, and the inaugural 715 winner Miss Ezmae who again led throughout from box 1.
The only exception in the four editions of the race was in 2023 when Nangar Rocket led from box 5 and had the race been the Ladbrokes 714, he would have won by a half length instead of being beaten a pimple by Zipping Orlando.
“When she got halfway around in front, and she had a little bit of a buffer, I was trying to see where Late Night News and a couple others were, and we had a bit of a break on them. So I was quietly happy,” said a jubilant trainer Tom Tzouvelis.
Tzouvelis was right to be wary. Only eight nights earlier in the heats he had watched Autumn Storm lead and Late Night News power past her and win by 8¼ lengths.
This time though Late Night News, the $3 favourite, was well back early, worked his way into the race, but then got stuck in traffic at a crucial time in the back straight and Autumn Storm was able to establish what would be a winning break.
Late Night News again charged home for second 1¾ lengths back with South Australian Time To Fire producing a great effort to finish third a further 2¼ lengths back. Autumn Storm clocked 41.46s the second fastest time in the race’s brief history behind only the 41.23s track record performance of Valpolicella 12 months ago.
“She's just new to the staying caper, and she's going to get better all the time. She's only at about her fourth or fifth run ever over the distance,” Tzouvelis said.
“We had her ready to go when she broke the record at Grafton a few weeks back, but she got kennel cough. That set us back and we thought this race was in doubt, but thankfully, she's come to hand really quickly and this makes the three weeks up and down the highway worthwhile.
“Grafton was her first go over 660m but when she got kennel cough, we weren't sure if it was going to work. We had a talk and said we'll try it and just see. And when she went no good in the Newcastle Cup, I was sort of thinking, oh, do we come back? But she was very lost in that run and she's a sort of dog that definitely likes to look at the track.”
Tzouvelis has broken his highway trips to Newcastle staying with the owners Michelle and Michael Jones at Nabiac south of Taree on the Mid North Coast.
“You love to win any race in greyhound racing, whether it's a maiden or a feature race, but these sort of races are special. The owners, Michelle and Michael Jones, they'll be ecstatic,” Tzouvelis said. “You know, they've been in dogs for a long time and they've had a lot of top dogs, like Super Estrella.
“They've had bad luck in a couple of races here. I think Ice Cream Story one day was going pretty good and went amiss here. So hopefully this erases that for them and little Autumn’s helping make good memories of the track for them.”
The Jones’ have a long history in the sport, breeding and rearing and of course owning some very smart greyhound including the two Tzouvelis mentioned.
Ice Cream Story was all set to win the 2021 Newcastle Cup at The Gardens when she went amiss halfway down the home straight. In 2022 Super Estrella was one of the pre-post favourites to win the inaugural 715 but in her heat she fell on the first turn.
“Michelle and Michael Jones, they do everything to help you. And not just because it’s their dog. They're just those sort of people,” Tzouvelis said. “If I came down with someone else's dog, they would do the same. They try and help you as much as possible. They're just great, genuine people that put everything into their dogs, and they deserve the luck they get.”
