Hovi dreaming of maiden Townsville Cup with rising star

Image credit: Louise Partland

By Jordan Gerrans

On a cattle property two hours south of Townsville lives one of the most promising young greyhounds to come out of North Queensland in some time.

Just 14 starts into his young career, Excuse Me Jack has already racked up 12 victories – three on the trot at present – for just over $20,000 in prize money as the exciting youngster heads towards Friday evening’s Group 3 Townsville Cup.

Gumlu trainer Harold Hovi only trains a small team of dogs at his cattle property – based between Home Hill and Bowen in the north of the state – focusing on quality over quantity when it comes to kennel numbers.

He has four dogs right now and never more than five in his kennel at the one time.

With a four-hour round trip from his home to the track, Hovi does not have much time to spare and only trains fast dogs – which Excuse Me Jack certainly is.

Excuse Me Jack, from a My Redeemer and Fancy Dancer litter, blitzed his rivals by over four lengths in last Friday’s heats and Hovi is dreaming of a maiden Townsville Cup for his kennel later this week.

“He is something special,” Hovi, who also owns the dog, said.

“I knew he had a bright future ahead of him going by the way he was trialling and everything.

“I did not know he would get this far so quickly; I knew once he started trialling and racing, his times were pretty good.

“I am looking forward to the Townsville Cup this year, I think he will take a power of beating on Friday night as he should not get into much trouble out wide.

“If he begins like he did in the heats come the Final, he is going to be very hard to beat.”

Hovi has only been training dogs for just over a decade, buying a greyhound by chance back in 2010 after attending a function where an extended family member had bred a litter of dogs.

Having had a few refreshments on that occasion, Hovi agreed to buy the dog and it has just grown since then.

Before that, Hovi had never had any involvement in the greyhound industry or with dogs.

At home now in 2021, the greyhounds and cattle regularly mix at the Gumlu property.

“I educate the dogs all here before we take them to Townsville to trial and race,” Hovi said.

“Otherwise, everything else gets done here.

“We have 10,000 acres here with probably 800 or so cattle, it keeps us busy.

“The cattle do not worry about the dogs too much; they are pretty good.”

Based remotely in North Queensland, Hovi’s kennel does not have running water from the local council so he prepares it all himself for his team of dogs.

While his 2021 Townsville Cup fancy has become a star dog, Excuse Me Jack only landed with Hovi by chance.

Bred by greyhound industry stalwart Dennis Barnes in NSW, Hovi took a chance taking on the then unraced dog.

“I bought a dog from him before and that dog was alright, so I rang him up and asked if he had any more for sale,” Hovi said.

“He had this one, I said 'send him up' and we went from there.

“He was good the first one I got from Dennis, he won a heap of races too, Excitable Jack.”

Barnes is pleased with the way the dog is progressing.

“I couldn’t be happier with how he’s turned out for Harold,” Barnes told the Greyhound Recorder

“I’ve sold Harold a few dogs over the time and he just happened to call me around the time I was breaking this litter in earlier in the year.

“A lot of the litter broke-in around the same and as it goes with break-ins some go on with it and some don’t. Excuse Me Jack broke in around the 19.10 mark which is going good.

“Did I think he’d turn out this good? Probably not, but I’m glad he has for Harold. He’s going fantastic.”

If Excuse Me Jack was to claim the first ever Townsville Cup for the Hovi kennel, the veteran trainer says he would celebrate back home in his property on Saturday night.

The 2021 Cup will be raced at Group 3 level with the prize money increased to $40,000, up from $25,000 previously, with the race set to reach Group 2 status by 2023.