Ella Cole travels on the highway to find her princess

By Jordan Gerrans

Passionate young Kiwi Ella Cole is settling in smoothly at Tony Apap’s kennel as she aims to forge her own path in greyhound racing in the Sunshine State.

Ella is the daughter of Brendon and Lisa Cole who are a leading training team in their home country of New Zealand.

Set to turn 23 years of age later this week, Cole has already made the Final of the popular Publicans Cup with kennel star Highway Princess and she will be aiming to land in another prestigious race this week.

The black bitch will start with the green rug on in a heat of the Ipswich Futurity on Thursday evening on the Q1 Lakeside circuit over 457 metres.

While Cole has been involved in many winners back home in NZ, she said it hit different when Highway Princess claimed a race in the middle of last month before qualifying for the Publicans Cup decider last week.

“It was pretty exciting,” Cole said of making the Publicans Cup Final.

“My parents were there when she ran second in her heat.

“I know she had a bit of luck, but she got through and ran an alright time.

“It feels way different now that I am training myself compared to back home. When she won a race, I was almost in tears.

“It seems like such a small thing but for me, it is so big. It is really rewarding to see her win.”

While training Highway Princess and a couple of pups, Cole is also working for veteran mentor Apap at Gatton as she aims to upskill her knowledge within the industry.

The enthusiastic youngster spent time around kennels and tracks in New South Wales and Victoria before settling on residing in Queensland for the foreseeable future.

John Galea, in Victoria, and Sam Sultana, in NSW, welcomed Cole into their kennels before she linked up with Apap.

Cole’s father has long been friends with Apap, who is based at Gatton.

“I am always learning, each day I am learning more,” she said.

“Tony and his family have been really good to me.”

The experienced Apap will also have a runner in Thursday’s Futurity heats when he presents with All Dressed Up who is a last start winner at Q2 Parklands.

The Cole family operate a sizeable kennel in NZ as well as managing a dairy property.

Young Cole says she was keen for her future to remain in greyhound racing, so she moved across the ditch to chase her dreams.

“The new track is just unreal,” she said of The Q.

“The money is here so it just makes sense.

“It has always been one of my dreams to train dogs, so it just made sense to come over.

“I was managing Mum and Dad’s dogs at home, so I had the opportunity to come over here because I was not training any dogs myself.”

Highway Princess was initially prepared in NSW by Judith Richardson where she had 10 starts before she was purchased online by Cole.

In five starts since at The Q across the two circle tracks, she has been placed twice and won once over 457 metres in 25.81 seconds.

“She is handy,” Cole said of Highway Princess.

“She is still young and she still has time to develop.

“I think she will be a good 600 to 700 metre dog in the end.

“She has not got a lot of box speed, but she is really good at the end of her races.

“I put her in the Futurity as you are only restricted age once and I know she can go a lot better than what she has been, so I am waiting for her to put it all together.

“Hopefully we can get a bit of luck.”

Cole believes Highway Princess prefers to race out wide so she thinks the six alley on Thursday evening may be beneficial.

There are five Futurity heats on Thursday evening while there are also five Derby heats. 

All 10 races at The Q are for dogs and bitches aged less than 30 months.

Next week’s two Finals are each worth a total of $45,000.