Kevin Macintosh finally believing the unbelievable

By Jordan Gerrans

Kevin Macintosh’s Looking Fancy produced an ‘unbelievable’ performance in last Sunday’s heat of the Michael Miller memorial series and the trainer is eager to see if he can repeat the dose.

Race caller and form analyst John 'Bunny' Brasch went slightly off-script during the call of Looking Fancy’s heat last Sunday at Capalaba. 

When the chaser hit the winning point, instead of declaring the dog’s name – he proclaimed 'unbelievable'.

He continued on.

"Looking Fancy has won for Kevin 'unbelievable' Macintosh," Brasch said.

"He was back to his best. When the money is on this dog, the money is usually right."

As the Kallangur-based Macintosh details, he started the catch cry of unbelievable in regards to the straight track club and it has built momentum since. 

The Capalaba Greyhound Racing Club will use their social media accounts to say Macintosh’s greyhounds winning was an unbelievable performance while other industry participants will also often use the word to describe his animals or him as a person. 

“Every now and again, when Capalaba writes something up – I just put the comment 'unbelievable’ underneath it on Facebook or the Capalaba site,” the veteran dog man said.

“I comment it about anything, so they kind of run with it now. I comment it for giggles and having a bit of fun.

“I originally started doing it like that and now everyone says it to me.”

Brasch was right with his assessment of Looking Fancy’s effort last Sunday as he scored in 19.68 seconds from the seven starting position. 

It was a smart return to form for the black dog as he had not won at the grass track since the beginning of May.

The three-year-old chaser had not been running poorly; he just wasn’t doing a lot of winning. 

He had placed on six occasions between the victories. 

The son of Aston Rupee was able to lead on Sunday in the heat and that was enough to see him go on with it. 

“He did everything right,” Macintosh said.

“He is capable of doing a lot wrong but when he gets it right, he goes good. He goes good up the straight.

“When he begins like he can and goes straight, getting to the lead is helpful so he can do his own thing.

“While he is going well at Capalaba, we will keep him going there.”

Looking Fancy has exclusively raced on the Capalaba grass surface since late last year. 

Looking Fancy’s heat-winning time was the second quickest of the handful contested last Sunday, as Oscar Bravo from the John Jeffrey kennel set the pace at 19.65 seconds. 

Oscar Bravo jumps from the two in Sunday’s decider of the series. 

Macintosh’s chaser will begin from the six this Sunday in the decider, a draw he says should be suitable towards him being competitive. 

The Michael Miller feature series is raced annually after the young industry participant was tragically killed in a car accident in 1998.

The race was originally run at the Toowoomba greyhound track but was transferred to Capalaba when Toowoomba closed in 2000.

Capalaba Greyhound Racing Club president George Clegg said the race, and the young man it honours each year, remain special with the club.

“Michael was an exceptional young man,” Clegg said.

It remains a popular race series with the five heats from last Sunday showcasing how many trainers are keen to participate in the event.

“It is a good series and there are some good dogs in it,” Macintosh, who has five greyhounds in work, said.

“It’ll be interesting. My dog is jumping out of his skin.”