Brett Smith, a passenger train guard who has only three greyhounds in his suburban kennels, will take on many of Australia's leading professional trainers when his dog Towering Earl exits box four in Sunday's $40,000 to the winner Group 2 Ladbrokes Puppy Classic at Nowra.
Minnie Finn has Before The Dawn and Winsome Rambo in boxes one and two, Kristy Sultana has See This in box three, Neil Staines trains Bandit Lynne who has drawn five, Million Dollar Chase winner Josh Formosa has Repeat The Same in box six, Jason Magri has Dennis Keeping in box seven and Jodie Lord has qualified with Secret Bandit in box eight.
Towering Earl notched his 10th win in 17 starts when he defeated Saja Boy in his Puppy Classic heat on Monday, covering the 520m in 29.73.
Although Towering Earl's time was slowest of the six heats, Smith will be heading for Nowra from his home at Harrington Park, near Camden, full of hope.
"Towering Earl is usually a brilliant beginner but he missed the start a bit on Monday before his early pace got him to the front quickly,.
"So with his customary fast getaway he can go a bit better,'' Smith said.
"He will be my second starter in a group race, as I qualified for last year's Million Dollar Chase Maiden with Towering Luke. (He was checked when in third place at the first turn and finished seventh.)
"I have been training for 20 years, getting into the sport through being a punter and buying the old Greyhound Recorder newspaper on a regular basis.
"When I bought my first young dog in 2004 I did not intend to be a trainer as well as an owner.
"But when that pup broke in poorly, nobody wanted him so I was forced to train him myself.
"It all started from there and while that dog only ran a few placings, he gave me and my father Terry, who is now in his 80s and shares the fun with me, a lot of pleasure.
"When I was punting I always liked the name 'towering' so when I got into dogs I started giving them that prefix.
"My most successful meeting was on December 22 last year at Nowra when I won with each of the only three dogs I had in my kennel, Towering Luke, Prescot and Towering Earl.
"Prescot, which I bought from famous Tasmanian trainer Ted Medhurst, gave me my first Wentworth Park winner on Anzac Day last year.
"I've had a lot of fun and had a bit of success, with Towering Larry winning 13 races and Towering Dawn being first home a dozen times.
"But Towering Earl looks like being the best I've owned and trained.
"I've never really had a mentor as far as training goes, I've just used common sense, trial and error and plenty of hard work.
"In the early days I walked them for miles, but now I also use a walking machine to supplement exercising them on the road.''
