By Jordan Gerrans
Despite being struck down with his second bout of cancer, David Plummer’s kennel of dogs have hardly skipped a beat over the last month.
First diagnosed with bladder cancer before it was found in his prostate, the experienced greyhound man is fighting on and is keeping a positive outlook.
While he has not been as hands-on with his kennel of seven as he would like to be, the results on the track have kept rolling in for the Plummer-trained dogs.
Since the start of February, the kennel have collected 11 winners, as well as several other minor placings, which included a heat of the Bundaberg Wildcard on Monday.
While it is David’s name in the form guide, he says all the credit must go to his wife Nancy, who has the dogs firing while he focusses on his heath battle.
“I am lucky she has taken on the dogs for me as well as doing all the work around the property,” David said on Wednesday morning.
“The last four weeks we have roughly taken four dogs a week to the races and she has won more than 10 races – she has done fantastic, she really has.”
David, who trains out of Takura, is hopeful of being back at the track within the next month.
He battled bladder cancer for four years before it was found in his prostate, which has since been removed to aid his recovery.
“When they were checking me out to give me the ok for the bladder cancer, they found the start of it in the prostate, so it has just gone from there,” David said.
“I am on the mend, that is the main thing.”
One from the kennel that Nancy is getting the best out of is Little Ripper, who justified his short price to claim a heat of the all new Bundaberg Wildcard on Monday.
The Bundaberg Wildcard, which is run over 550 metres, is forming part of the Bundaberg Cup program for the first time in 2022.
The new Listed event is for locally trained greyhounds and will provide the winner with automatic entry into the Group 3 Bundaberg Cup Final held on March 28.
Allan Watts' All Genres claimed the second of the two heats on Monday with the Final to be run next week.
Little Ripper ran the quickest of the two heats and has been in strong form since returning from the Country Cup at Albion Park, where he ran second to Rockhampton chaser Love You Peaches.
The dark brindle dog was more suited to the shorter trips earlier in his career but David has been pleased with the way he has adjusted to 550 metres at Bundaberg in recent weeks.
David believes Little Ripper, from a Sh Avatar and Rocket Banquet litter, has found a little extra in his legs at the perfect time.