Townsville Wildcard win would be prefect tribute to Greta’s dad

By Josh Spasaro

Seeing Jackknifed get a start in the Townsville Cup Final would mean everything to Greta Thomson, with her in-form chaser to start from box one in the Wildcard decider on Tuesday night.

The winner will go straight through to the $112,525 Group 2 Townsville Cup Final on September 12.

Thomson’s father Bob sadly passed away following a battle with cancer about five years ago and she learnt a great deal about conditioning chasers from him.

“I’ve never had a greyhound in the Townsville Cup. My dad won the Cairns Cup a few years back,” she said.

“It’s just such a big thing and you put everything into it. I do everything (with the greyhound preparation and conditioning) myself.”

Thomson admits she was devastated at a potential missed chance to win a Townsville Cup for her late father in recent years.

She has moved on from that and knows Jackknifed has the talent to qualify for the coveted Group 2 feature with a win in Tuesday night’s Final that is worth $24,000 and over 498 metres.

“I had a missed opportunity a couple of years ago with a couple of decent dogs I had,” she said.

“It gutted me. My dad had them (greyhounds) before I was even born. But, just to be in a Townsville Cup would be a massive thrill.”

Despite drawing box one, the Black River conditioner admitted she was nervous about her three-year-old dog starting from the inside lane.

“To be honest, I’m not really happy with box one because he doesn’t jump. He doesn’t get the jump,” she said.

“He’s going really good, but I’m not fussed with the box draw.”

Jackknifed has won five from his past six starts, including his heat when he flashed home to win by a length in 28.78 seconds last Tuesday night.

It was the second-fastest heat time, behind Winnie Rumble, who crossed the line in 28.72 seconds, for Mark Partland.

“He likes those straights. He just accelerates down them,” Thomson said.

“He had the three box over a month ago and he took advantage of it and got a clean run. He got through. But, that’s the only thing – it’s the start. It depends on who gets the jump and who gets a clean run.

“He’s in it. It’s a hard race and all of them are in it with a chance.”

Maisie Moo Moo for Tony Parker is another chaser in with a big chance in a quality Wildcard Final.

The two-year-old bitch has won four of her past five starts.

“They’re all in it with a chance, really. The whole lot of them,” Thomson said.

“The biggest thing from that race is going to be the start.”

Thomson added it would be a massive achievement for a local trainer to win the Wildcard Final on Tuesday night and then go on to claim the Townsville Cup Final.

“There’s a lot of money down south and it’d be nice to see a Townsville dog – no matter who it is – take it out this year,” she said.

“It’d be lovely to see.”

Thomson said she purchased Jackknifed for last year’s Townsville Cup, but an injury held him back.

He is in good health and form for his shot at Group 2 glory this year.

“He was bought for the Cup last year,” she said.

“I just couldn’t get him ready in time to give him a couple of runs on the track before the Cup.”