No cake on Stephen Neary's face after fast performance

By Jordan Gerrans

Cake Is Great’s new track record down the Q Straight may only last for a couple of days, or potentially a few months, but, regardless, veteran trainer Stephen Neary is reveling in the milestone. 

The long-time dog man has been around the industry for much of his life with his late father Jim a life member at Capalaba and a former president at The Gabba.

It is the first time in his tenure in the game that a dog he has prepared, owned and bred has lowered a track record.

Cake Is Great did so on Monday of this week down the all-new Q Straight 300 metre track in 16.35 seconds. 

“It is a little bit special to have one that has at least done it,” Neary said.

“If it is just for a week, it doesn’t matter. That is just part of the new track.

“Regardless, if there have been 20 races or 50 races, we still have the quickest dog to go up there at the moment.”

Cake Is Great showed plenty of promise at Ipswich before the switch over to The Q but the fawn dog only had one run between March and August due to a couple of injuries. 

He showed he was back near his best over 350 metres down the Q Straight in late August before creating history on the 300 metre circuit just days later. 

“On Thursday he ran the quickest time of the day,” the Croftby-based conditioner said.

“And, then he broke the track record on Monday. I am going to keep him up the straight until I decide to put him on the circle to see if he can stand up on the circle.

“He did run 24.97 seconds at Ipswich before we left there so I knew potentially he was a faster dog than his littermate Blocker Tiger, but it was about if we could him back to where he was.

“When he ran that time the other night, we just need to hope we can continue that.”

The track record performance means so much more to Neary and his kennel as Cake Is Great comes from his breed. 

The Neary team are well-known in the greyhound caper for their greyhound names with Cake in it. 

Over the years he has raced chasers such as Cake Is Bad, Cake Is Yummy, Cake In Tummy and Cake Is Good, among several others.

Bake A Cake was the bitch who started the Cake prefix theme but the original bloodline goes all the way back to a Brett Lee and Heart Spark mating.

“It throws back to a really good line but it is a matter of finding that click,” Neary said.

“The Flying Ricciardo (Cake Is Great's sire) line at the moment is really good. There is four in the litter and they have won a fair bit so far.

“Bake A Cake was around a long time ago and had a litter of pups and it grew from there. I try and name them Cakes.”

Cake Is Great is from a Flying Ricciardo and Cake Is Nice litter. 

One chaser from the litter that is not named after a baked good is Blocker Tiger who is also racing well. 

Blocker Tiger is named in honour of Balmain Tigers legend Stephen "Blocker" Roach with the dog's owner a big fan of the club and former player.

Blocker Tiger has won 12 from 59 attempts while also being placed on 24 other occasions.

The two-year-old chaser will aim to make it 13 career triumphs on Saturday at the Q1 Lakeside track over 550 metres from the eight alley.

“He is a good and is loving the Q1,” Neary said.

“If we didn’t have the Q1, he would probably go down and race in Melbourne.

“He is one of those dogs that could go to Melbourne and be competitive but as I have the opportunity to have him up here, I keep him up here.”

Cake Is Great heads back to the Q Straight on Sunday from the green starting position in a fifth-grade event over 300 metres. 

Neary prepares a kennel of eight with four racing at the moment.