Brett paving a record road to the Nationals

By Pat McLeod

Premier Queensland trainer Tony Brett has stormed through to two of next week’s state championship Finals on the back of track record runs.

In an amazing eight hours on Thursday at The Q, Brett not only qualified Darcy Dakota, in the Queensland Straight Track Championship Final on the Q Straight, and Cumbria Jack, in the Queensland Sprint Championship Final on the Q2 Parklands, but both dogs also broke the track record.

Darcy Dakota lowered the 350 metre straight track mark from 18.79 seconds (which was held by Jeff Crawford's Miles On It) to 18.71 seconds.

Cumbria Jack smashed Blue Blend’s (trained by Jeff Crawford) 29.16 second record for the 520 metres on the Q2 down to an incredible 28.99 seconds. 

He also set a new sectional record at 7.48 seconds and equaled the 5.15 second mark for the third sectional.

“This is amazing,” a stunned Brett said after Cumbria Jack’s performance on Thursday night.

“You start the day believing you have the dogs to do well, but you never expect track records. There are too many variables. But, this has been a day you would not believe.”

In a massive Thursday of racing at The Q, four heats of the Queensland Straight Track titles were held through the afternoon before two heats of both the sprint and distance were part of Thursday night’s program.

The four straight track heat winners were Tarawi Buster (Jayson Valentine), Alacrity Dave (Tony Zammit), Darcy Dakota and Miles On It (Jeff Crawford).

The two sprint winners were Super Scrub (Travis Elson) and Cumbria Jack. 

The distance heats were taken out by Light Of Mine (Tim Britton) and Akela Ola (Martina Kirillidis).

Brett said Darcy Dakota’s performance did not come as a shock.

“No, Darcy Dakota’s run didn't surprise me,” Brett said.

“The first time I trialled him here, over 300 metres on the straight, he broke the track record in that trial.

“I thought immediately that he was a very good straight track dog and he had already won well in South Australia up the straight.

“With Cumbria Jack, well I didn't think we would see that. That is unbelievable.

“I have always rated this dog from when he arrived (from Nowra in NSW) and from when I gave him his first trial.

“He just continues to thrive. The more I give him the better he goes. He is a great young dog.

“He has just turned two and he is getting better with age and is learning what it is all about.”

The Tim Britton and Martina Kirillidis combination stamped their domination of the staying ranks, qualifying four dogs through to next week’s 710 metre distance Final.

Aside from heat winners Light Of Mine and Akela Ola, they also qualified Akela Ninjutsu (third in heat one) and Red Dirt Road (fourth in heat two).

“Four in the Final is amazing,” Kirillidis said. 

“That is a huge weight off our shoulders. I don't think we could have done better than that.

“We don't like to put too much pressure on ourselves, or the dogs and we just want them to get around safely and anything better than that we consider as a win.

“It has been a long road since we came up here and we had some doubts early on, but as we have kept chipping away everything is paying off and it is so great to see what our hard work has been able to produce.”

The three state deciders will be held at The Q next Thursday, with the winners progressing through to the Nationals, to be conducted at The Q on August 30.