Billy leads the chase

Raymond and Maree Smith’s trio of Brad Hill Billy, Big Daddy B and Irinka Alf all won their races at the Sydney track last weekend, thrilling the owners. 

“It’s hard to pick up a treble anywhere, let alone at Wentworth Park,” Smith said.

They return to Wentworth Park this weekend hoping for similar success – Brad Hill Billy’s win secured him a place in the Paws of Thunder and he’s drawn Box 5 for for the $75,000 final. 

At four years old, Brad Hill Billy is something of a veteran with 33 wins and more than $270,000 in prize money to his name.

The Smiths have trained and raced him for the past two years. 

Smith says it’s the dog’s own race strategy that has helped him stay in racing, and so successful, so long. 

“He’s a backmarker,” he explained. 

The Kinloch Brae x Break Even dog hangs back and looks for an opportunity to make a late run to the finish line, saving himself from getting caught in the crowd on the corner. 

“He’s done a great job,” Smith told The Greyhound Recorder.

“It’s unbelievable for a dog like him to win that many races at Wentworth Park, which people think of as a leader’s track and not for a dog that races for luck and comes from the tail of the field most of the time.

“He’s going as good as ever too. Touch wood he’s been a very sound dog so I don’t know when it ends but I think he deserves to win a Group 1 before he finishes.

“He’s won two Group 2s and run second in a Group 1 but they’re not easy to win, especially for a backmarker.”

Hot on Brad Hill Billy’s heels in the Paws of Thunder will be another Central West greyhound – Falcon’s Fury owned by Cowra’s Paul and Pamera Braddon – who qualified just one / one hundredth of a second behind.