By Jordan Gerrans
An extended period spent in the car driving to the beef capital of Australia might just be the making of up-and-coming star Orchestrate leading into the 2021 TAB Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival.
The Tony Brett-trained dog will be one of the rising greyhounds to watch over the upcoming carnival, starting this evening in the $26,250 Listed Brisbane Young Guns Final at Albion Park.
Orchestrate’s career is only 15 races old, but he already has nine victories under his belt, with almost $50,000 in prize money for his connections.
The multiple Brisbane Cup-winning trainer earlier this year took Orchestrate on an educational trip to Rockhampton, which he believes has him primed for carnival success this year.
The Group 3 Rockhampton Cup was the main focus of the trip, which Orchestrate bolted in by five lengths to win, but it was also about education and maturation, according to the respected trainer.
“He mainly went up there as a learning curve, young dogs that are a bit ratty like he is, the trip away can be really helpful for them,” Brett said.
“It is an eight-hour trip in the car from Brisbane to Rockhampton and they soon learn to settle down and adapt to travelling and it can sometimes mature a dog up.
“It certainly looks like that has happened for him as he won the Rocky Cup sensationally and then it was nice to come home and back it up last week, running a nice time at Albion Park last week.”
Orchestrate’s 2021 carnival kicks off this evening with the green rug on, aiming to claim the first of potentially many feature races in the coming months.
He is a $1.80 favourite as of Thursday morning with the TAB.
He qualified for the Final by running almost eight lengths ahead of the chasing pack in the heats in a time of 29.760 over 520 metres.
A Group 1 winner as a trainer, Brett has had several outstanding dogs over the years but is happy to admit Orchestrate looks special at the young stage of his career.
“He is the type of dog as a trainer you get really excited about,” Brett said.
“He has come forward in leaps and bounds over the last month and leading into the carnival this year, that is the time of the year to be coming forward in leaps and bounds.
“He is a massive chance in the Final this week if he comes out and keeps going.
“He is definitely a dog for the carnival.”