Irish Bill claims Golden Ticket to Bullion decider

By Pat McLeod

Victorian trainer Stephen Whyte has celebrated the first anniversary of his near fatal brush with sickness by staking a claim in Queensland’s second richest greyhound race.

Whyte, and his freakishly fast Irish Bill, won the Golden Ticket Final on the Q2 Parklands circuit on Thursday night, earning the $60,000 winner’s cheque and passage through to the $375,000 Group 1 Gold Bullion Final on February 5.

A year earlier, Irish Bill was in Queensland preparing to start his race career in the Vince Curry Memorial at Ipswich.

Whyte was also planning to come north but instead was struck down with illness.

“This time last year, I was set to come north after I had sent him up here early for a couple of trials,” Whyte recounted.

“Then I got sick on January 3 and didn’t get out of hospital until January 24.

“I got Covid, then pneumonia, sepsis, then kidney failure and then they put me in an induced coma for five days.

“I am one of the lucky ones to survive it.

“I'm still not right now, but these dogs, especially this one, give me a reason to get out of bed every morning.”

That was certainly the case at The Q on Thursday night when Irish Bill not only comfortably accounted for Tom Tzouvelis’ Tempting Dash in their match race, but also claimed the series with the fastest time - 29.19 seconds - of the four match races.

“His run home was enormous,” Whyte said of Irish Bill.

“I was also really impressed with his first section. That is the quickest he has ever gone.

“He is a very good dog and you just have to keep him in the right races and get a little bit of luck. Everyone needs a little bit of luck.

“I had belief in the dog and I just wanted both dogs to get their chances and then the best dog wins.

“Looking ahead to the Group 1 Final, he is a very fast dog and he just needs luck.

“He is quick when he gets left alone for the first 50 metres.”

The Golden Ticket match races began with another Victorian, Vista Weird (trained by Tom Dailly), taking the honours over local Tarawi Buster (Jayson Valentine) in 29.46 seconds. 

Then Accredited (Ned McDonald) finished ahead of Sooty Keeping (Tony Brett) in 29.54 seconds.

Tzouvelis’ Daysea’s Rory then gave the locals some hope by clinching an exciting, narrow victory over Winsome Jet (Michelle Sultana) in 29.3 seconds. 

However, Irish Bill ended the contest, storming to victory in the night’s quickest time in the final match race.

In other feature races on Thursday night, evergreen Group performer Autumn Storm returned to the winner’s circle, taking out the Clem Jones Cup Final over 710 metres over Fade To Black (Tony Brett), with Akela Ninjutsu (Martina Kirillidis) third, in 41.65 seconds. 

And, Jeff Crawford’s Star Turn won the inaugural Alfie Langer Australia Day Trophy Final ahead of Aidan’s Queen (Travis Elson) and Mepunga Shine (Martina Kirillidis) in 29.64 seconds.