By Isaac Murphy
Champion Queensland trainer William 'Bill' Elson is one of the most quiet spoken, humble men going around, but the dual Albion Park premiership winning trainer has plenty to brag about at present.
On Wednesday night at Albion Park the Elson family had a night to remember, with Bill, Cynthia and Travis Elson combining to snag all four legs of the quaddie.
When Bill also won the last race on the card it brought up five winners for the Churchable kennel, which is operating as efficiently as ever.
Bill leads the Brisgreys progressive points premiership on 652 points, more than double that of his nearest rivals Steven Scott and Selena Lawrence.
He attributed his success to experience and a loyal team.
“We have about 30 in work at the moment, which is the most I’ve had in my career so far,” Elson said.
“It’s taking a bit of teamwork but we’re handling it so far, my son is there helping out and my wife Cynthia still comes to the track every now and again and I always try to get to the track myself.”
Elson said the kennel had benefited largely from a strong young crop of greyhounds the kennel bred themselves.
“We breed them ourselves, they’re out of Magic Sprite and Abby’s Fantasy, they’ve been an outstanding litter for us,” he said.
“The other litter is Silver Stunner, that’s out of another bitch I’ve got, they’ve also produced a number of winners for us.”
Elson said these young litter’s had racked up plenty of wins for the kennel early in their career’s, as well as a strong commitment to local racing.
“I’ve got a fair few young ones coming through, so they’ve racked up plenty of maidens and early wins for me,” he said
“I’m pretty confident in the crop of young ones I have coming through, I’ve got a lot coming through the grades and reaching the 520.”
“We do the majority of our racing at Albion, we go to Ipswich sometimes, but Albion is definitely home.”
When quizzed on some individuals who were set to shine in the second half of the year Elson singled out a young brother and sister duo.
“I reckon Hay Billy will be a big improver, Hay Hopey his sister she’ll make the grade, she won well last Monday night and they’ve got plenty of other brother’s and sister’s with similar ability, but they stand out.”
The veteran trainer said he’d learned over time to have a successful season you must have a mix of experience and new comers in the kennel.
“If we didn’t have the young ones coming through I’d say we were no chance, I’ve got a lot of dogs that are getting on in their careers so it’s important to find the right balance in the kennel,” he said
“It’s always just a matter of time in this game and fortunately that’s worked in my favour this year, fingers crossed we can keep it up.”
Asked whether he was confident of a third championship the trainer replied in typical laconic style
I’ve had a pretty good run hopefully we can continue for the second half of the year.”