Custard's Son is now set at feature level

By Josh Spasaro

The owner of Custard’s Son admits he had doubts over when his two-year-old would display the form he’s currently enjoying.

The middle-distance dog goes into the second Townsville Grand Prix Heat on Tuesday night with three consecutive victories and eight wins from 21 starts for trainer Steven Scott.

But, it took a while for him to find his groove, after saluting twice from his first 10 races.

Owner Jaycin Campbell, however, did not regret the pedigree pairing for the sire and dam of his emerging juvenile chaser – by the great Group 1 victor Fernando Bale and out of Cascade Monelli, who notched up six wins from 44 starts.

“I purchased Cascade off (Western Australia trainer) David Hobby. He had a lot of dogs for sale at the time, which was the best part of three or four years ago now,” Campbell said.

“I just really liked her litter. She only won six starts, but when she did win, she won in really fast times.

“I decided to go to Fernando for the first litter. It was a bit of a no-brainer - Cascade Monelli being a daughter of Barcia Bale. Commercially, he’s very viable. And, I believe he’s the best sire. His record obviously speaks for itself.”

Arnie Ferrari – with five wins from 29 starts and also trained by Scott – is the two-year-old brother of Custard’s Son, who Campbell also owns.

And, the knowledgeable 24-year-old purchased two-year-old bitch Paw Alley, with seven victories from 28 starts.

Indeed, it wasn’t all smooth sailing early on, with Campbell unsure that Custard’s Son would ever start finding that kind of growth and consistency.

But, last Tuesday night’s Rockhampton Grand Prix Final victory over a strong field – with the often-competitive Edgewood finishing runner-up – was proof of how far Custard’s Son has come.

“It took a bloody long time for them (the litter to develop into good chasers). Custard more so than Arnie,” Campbell said.

“He’s finally proven myself right, I guess. I was doubting myself for like two years.

“But, he’s slowly starting to come good. It was good to see him win that feature at Rocky last week.”

Campbell credits Rockhampton trainer Ken Boody for being a reliable set of hands with Custard’s Son while he had his early struggles alongside his litter siblings.

"Ken did a very good job at the beginning to get the dogs to the racetrack," Campbell said. 

“I thought that was going to be an uphill battle at the start and it was. And, them winning races was a thrill.

“This dog going to the next level over the past month or so has been another thrill and a little bit shocking.”

Starting from box five, Custard’s Son won the Rockhampton Grand Prix Final in fine fashion over 510 metres last week, blitzing through his first sectional in 4.73 seconds.

He showed impressive strength to get on the outside of Edgewood – who was on his inside – going into the first turn.

Custard’s Son will start from the same lane in his heat over 498 metres on Tuesday night, where Campbell will hope for a similar style of run.

“He was very good early the other night. And, he was the start prior,” he said.

“His first sectional at Rockhampton, I think he went 4.73 seconds or something to the mark.

“I would’ve had 50 or 60 chasers up there racing the past three or four years and that’s pretty much as fast as any of them have gone.

“And, the dog he’s beaten in back-to-back weeks now, Edgewood, he’s won the best part of almost 30 races now.”

But, Campbell isn’t thinking too far ahead in what will be another competitive Townsville field.

“The dog is going well. I’ve just got a lot of respect for the red (Federal Bullet for Gary Farrell). He’s drawn where he wants to be,” he said.

“I’ll just be happy if he can scrape though to the Final and hopefully get some luck there. But, I think the red will be very hard to beat.”

Meanwhile, Campbell said he was happy to have scaled down his greyhound-racing operation, CG Syndications.

“I have those three dogs racing and then Dixie Gambles. We still have her and she had a litter about two weeks ago or so to Bernardo,” he said.

“She had eight puppies. We’ll be looking to sell some and we’ll keep some. Hopefully they can be the next generation moving forward for us.

“We sold a lot of our brood bitches and race dogs. A few of them still race around. We’re happy to be a bit more of a tighter operation.

"That made us go from the best part of 40 or so dogs on the books, to now having five or six.”