Duffman about to start his Ipswich ‘farewell tour’

By Pat McLeod

Quality Group-class dog Duffman begins his ‘farewell tour’ of his beloved Ipswich track on Saturday night.

The Jedda Cutlack-trained and majority-owned speedster of course isn’t on the immediate road to retirement, but the track on which he shot to fame is about to close.

With the move to the state-of-the-art greyhound facility The Q imminent, Duffman’s handlers have decided to give the kennel favourite as many outings at ‘Royal Ipswich’ as possible.

“The main idea for racing him at Ipswich in this race on Saturday night is that he loves the Ipswich track so much,” the Park Ridge trainer said. 

“Even though he is not at his fittest I want to keep him at Ipswich as much as I can because we have only got a couple of more weeks left that we can race there.

“So even if he doesn't win another race at the track, he likes going there and he enjoys it, so let him have some fun before it closes.”

For Duffman, and Cutlack, the Ipswich circuit is special.

It was there in early February last year that the Sh Avatar and She's Some Gal youngster took out the world’s richest greyhound maiden, the $75,000-to-the-winner Vince Curry Memorial series.

Since then Duffman has gone on to prove himself consistently in top company.

His overall statistics to date are very good – 46 starts resulting in 12 wins, 20 placings and $212,960 in prizemoney.

Those statistics also highlight his affection for the Showgrounds circuit.

In 13 starts there he has been unplaced just once, with seven of those outings resulting in a win.

The last time Duffman graced the Ipswich track was on November 7 last year when he finished sixth to kennelmate Autumn Storm in the Final of the Group 1 Ipswich Cup.

“The Vince Curry win will always be special to me, something that I will always remember,” Cutlack said.

“Also, I have always enjoyed going to Ipswich to race, so it will be sad to see the back of the track, but it is what it is and we move on. But, of course there is so much opportunity to look forward to at The Q.”

Saturday night’s assignment is not an easy one.

Duffman may be launching from the red, but there are plenty of threats coming across including John Corrigan’s class bitch Uno Nangar, who won the Ipswich Futurity last October.

“I wouldn't say that Duffman is at his fittest,” Cutlack said.

“He had a couple of weeks off after his last run at Albion and then has just had the one start at Grafton (on March 3), which was just a fitness run for him.

“Since then, we have been able to do very little because of the rain.

“But, he loves Ipswich, he is boxed well and I hope he does alright, but if he's not his old self I won't be surprised either. We are just trying to get back into our routine after the cyclone.”

Cutlack indicated that a re-focus on 600 metre racing was not far off for Duffman and she is adamant his best racing is not behind him.

“He (Duffman) is three in April and we now have a lot of experience with this line,” she explained.

“We have found that not only do they mature later, but their three-year-old year is a good year for them. For example Showdown, Shaye and Sunburst (from the same breeding line) all raced up until they were almost five.

“I am confident that once Duffman has his fitness back we will try 600 metres again.

“I hope he can be in the limelight again, but this time over the 600 metres. He is definitely strong enough to run the 600 metres, so I do hope he finds a bit of a sweet spot there.”