The million-dollar question: What now for Jay Is Jay?

By Pat McLeod

The immediate race future of Queensland wonder-dog Jay Is Jay is yet to be plotted as Selena and Mick Zammit quickly descend the emotional heights of Friday night’s Million Dollar Chase victory at Wentworth Park.

However, trainer Selena Zammit has put a line through one attractive option.

The dog will not be taking an early exit to a stud career.

“Jay Is Jay is a race dog,” Selena said. 

“He is a race dog above anything else. When we decide that his race career is over, then he becomes a stud dog. We will not go to stud earlier than that. We have had him DNA tested in preparation for that.

"I have a stud licence and when the time comes, we will get a sperm count done on him and see where we are at.

“But, that is at the back of our minds at the moment. In the forefront is the fact that he is a race dog.

“This is what we do. This is what we dream of having – a great race dog. So, while he can, and he's still competitive, he will race.”

What Selena is not yet clear on is what the next major race goal will be.

“Well, that is the million-dollar question,” she said laughing.

Jay Is Jay claimed a thrilling half-length win over Cumbria Kid (trained by Stephen Fitch), with Postman Pat (Jason Thompson) third in the MDC Final.

“There is the Melbourne Cup (Final at Sandown on December 2), there is The Phoenix (The Meadows on December 16). There are so many good races coming up we are spoilt for choice," she said. 

“We will wait for a few days, let all of this sink in and once it has then we will make a plan for him.

“It could be the Ipswich Cup (Final on November 2). We will definitely be going to the Ipswich Cup with his brother, All Natural. But, we just haven't decided whether Jay Is Jay will campaign there.

“If we are to race in Melbourne we need to go there and trial.

“So that may be the next thing that we are doing, Michael taking the dog to Melbourne to trial, to give him a look at those tracks. There are a few decisions to be made.”

Although both Selena and Mick have tasted plenty of top level greyhound success during their three decades together, Selena admitted the Million Dollar Chase journey had been on a ‘whole new level’ and an extreme emotional roller-coaster, the likes of which she had never experienced.

“At 9am on Friday morning I was vomiting,” she said, recalling the race day.

“I was so stressed. My stomach was in knots. I didn't get much sleep the night before and just couldn't stop thinking about the day and what was going to happen that night.

“I was throwing up and thinking that very soon I had to jump on a plane and fly to Sydney (husband Mick drove down to Wentworth Park with Jay Is Jay on Friday).

“And, I was thinking, ‘How am I going to get through this?’. The emotions were like a roller-coaster. I tried not to think about the race and that was OK, but my mind kept coming back to the race and what would happen."

The knot would return to her stomach and she would start to feel sick again.

“So, before and after the race it is so hard to put into words the feelings. I just can't," Selena said. 

“But, it is just amazing.

“Since the race the feeling has just been incredible. Absolutely incredible. At the track I was standing up in the grandstand with my son, Kaine, my brother, Dean, and his wife, Samantha."

As soon as the lids opened, she did not stop screaming.

"Then I bolted down to where Michael was, still near the boxes," she said. 

“By the time I got to Michael, I couldn't talk, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't do anything. I was just shaking. Michael was crying, I was crying.

“It was just. I can't explain it. It is so hard to explain how that moment feels. It still doesn't feel real.

“It was a hard road to get there. We were devastated after missing out at Grafton (MDC regional qualifying race) and we were ready to give up.

“Then we thought, ‘Well we're not going to win it by sitting at home on the lounge’. So off we went."

Selena described the feelings as 'surreal'.

“This was a whole new level of stress and elation and emotion. It raises the level of anything else that we have ever done," the trainer said. 

“The money is great, don't get me wrong, fantastic. But, for us it was more about the connection with the dog, the mother of the dog (Kealoah) and my father."

Kealoah was the last dog Selena’s father Jeff Jones trained before he passed away in 2018.

Selena then took over training of that dog.

Both Kealoah and Jay Is Jay are owned by Selena’s mother Lillian Jones.

“This has always been more about that connection than the pay day," Selena said. 

“It is so much more about the dog and the story behind the dog. The money is great, but the story is so much better.”

Selena says her father remains an integral part of the Jay Is Jay story.

“The result on Friday night, it definitely was divine intervention,” she said.

“The stars aligned. I'm sure it had something to do with dad.

“He would be so proud. If he was here today he would be peacocking. I can just see him. He would be so, so happy.

“It is sad that he is not here to see it, but I am sure he is here with us.”

Selena acknowledged the significance of the race win, for the dog, but deflected any kudos for her and Mick’s training efforts.

“I'm extremely proud that the dog has won this race, but I don't need kudos,” she said.

“I'll get all the kudos I need from my dogs. When we put the work in and they give it back to us, that is all that I need.

“I don't need someone to tell me, ‘You are great’, or otherwise. I let our dogs do the talking for us. It is just about the dogs. It is not about me. It is not about Michael.”

And, so what about the numbers after the race?

First of all, the million dollars in prize money?

Selena confirmed, that like many owner and trainer arrangements, 50 per cent will go to the owner Lillian and 50 per cent will go to the trainer.

Another number: Jay Is Jay’s prize money now sits at $1,316,250.

And, while that may seem mouth-watering, Selena points at yet another number.

That win takes the combined prize money tally for the Sennachie and Kealoah litter to $1,688,750.

Kealoah is currently in pup to Hooked on Scotch, a litter that is due to be whelped on November 1.