Seven nights earlier after Soiree finished second in her heat of the Ladbrokes 715, her Queensland trainer Tom Tzouvelis was confident. Confident she wouldn’t even make the final.
It is one time Tzouvelis is happy to be wrong. She scarped into the field as the eighth and last qualifier, she then drew the coveted box one, and then … she won the world’s richest distance event and $250,000 for her connections.
“We got beat a long way,” he said about his initial reaction after the heats when he thought Soiree would miss the final. He even joked that there was no need for a photo after the heat as she wouldn’t be making the final.
“But when I looked at it, it was a terrific run. I didn't think she'd get through because she got beaten so far, but I was impressed. She was taking ground off Without A Trace, on that track last week. She was dead last and weaving through dogs.
“Sorry about saying don’t bother getting a photo, she won’t make the final, but, it worked out good, didn't it?”
The speedy Pepe Morada led from boxrise while favourite Electrify was checked soon after jumping as was another fancy Without A Trace, and local hope Magpie Hector was another victim of being checked at the first turn.
Sticking to the fence from the box one draw, Soiree was able to rail through and be a few lengths off Pepe Morada passing the post for the first time.
She gradually clawed ground off the leader and hit the front just before the home turn, and was then able to stave off the late challenges of Ayden’s Warrior and Power Squeeze with Magpie Hector running home for fourth.
The win is the fourth time in five editions of the Ladbrokes 715 that the greyhound wearing the red rug has won the feature event, and Soiree’s win comes 12 months after Tom Tzouvelis won the race with Autumn Storm who also had box one.
“Look that's why box one in this race has been so good,” Tom said. “And take nothing away from all the other runners, I mean if they (the favourites) have the one box, there would probably be a different result. But look … we'll take it.
“We thought she could punch up a bit closer. She doesn't normally begin as bad as she has been, but her third run here, and she's a young dog, she's only 25-26 months’ old. She's got everything ahead of her.
“We just thought she’d benefit from traveling, so we took her to Dubbo (for the Country Classic) for the experience as well, and every race just counts.
“When the six dog (Pepe Morada) led and she was behind her, I was pretty happy. I was looking for where, obviously Electrify and Hector were, but, because you're watching your own, I didn’t see whether they got tangled up early. But I was pretty happy when I saw she had a nice buffer on her main rivals.”
One thing Tzouvelis did differently this week was not handling Soiree. He gave that job to fellow trainer Jedda Cutlack who it was hoped would be able to help Soiree get out of the boxes better.
It worked.
“I missed out last year, and I didn't want to miss out again,” Jedda said. “There was not as much pressure this year because there were a lot of very good dogs in the race, but we were hoping with box one, and I thought maybe I could get her out a little bit better. I don't know whether it was me, but I'll take it. She's just a good dog.
“Look she's just a very nice dog. All the ones we get from Peter (and Sonia Davis, the owners/breeders) are, with nice temperaments, good dam lines. We like having them in the kennel. And she's very sweet. She loves her cuddles. She knows when she wins she can get them.”
Soiree clocked 41.89s in winning and three lengths to spare over a gallant Ayden’s Warrior.
She has now won 9 and been placed in 10 of her 27 starts and amassed over $300,000 in prizemoney.
The win was not only back-to-back victories for Tzouvelis, but as he was quick to point out that is three in a row for Queenslanders, with Valpolicella – who led the field out on Friday night – winning the race in track record time in 2024.
And this time, he was happy to pose for photos.
Happy for photos this week. Jedda Cutlack and Tom Tzouvelis with Ladbrokes 715 winner Soiree
