Goldstars after their staying Cup

By Jordan Gerrans

The Evans clan have established themselves as an emerging force in the Sunshine State over the last year and they think they have a couple of stayers who can make an impact in the Queensland Golden Greys Summer Racing Carnival.

Led by trainer Riley and his father Steve, the Kiwi family relocated to Queensland in the early stages of 2024 and have produced consistent results ever since.

While they have been prominent in some feature events, they are yet to strike a major blow in their new racing jurisdiction.

Within a few weeks, they won the Breast Cancer Cup, Col Harris Gold Sovereign (both Goldstar Prada) and Merv Page Trophy (Goldstar Sandler). 

They were regular contenders and winners of Group events back home in New Zealand over many years.

Enthusiastic conditioner Riley feels stayers Goldstar Prada and Goldstar Sandler give the team their best chance yet to contend for Group glory.

Littermates Prada and Sandler both contested the Clem Jones Cup Final on Thursday evening at The Q ahead of heats of the Group 1 Gold Cup.

“I've been super happy with the two of them,” Evans said.

“Prada was probably a bit down on her best the other week in all honesty. But, in Sandler's first go over 710 metres, I was really impressed with him and I think he should hopefully go forward again.

“I've been super happy with how the two of them are going and hopefully they can both peak at the right time. I think they both can be competitive in the Gold Cup heats.”

Alongside Riley and Steve, Riley’s my girlfriend Maddie Houtos and other family members are also crucial to the workings of the kennel.

Prada has gradually built up in distance as she has developed as a stayer.

The black bitch placed in the Group 3 Past Members Trophy Final over 642 metres at the Q1 Lakeside track in early November.

From there, she was stepped up to 710 metres and Prada has not missed a top two finish in half-a-dozen attempts.

She has recorded a personal-best time of 41.53 seconds over the Gold Cup trip.

“Prada, when she was humming, she was going with the very best in the state here,” the young dog man said.

“So, if we compete with them here then hopefully, they'll be able to compete with some of the best in the country.”

Kennelmate Sandler won at his first attempt over the staying trip earlier this month, scoring in 41.57 seconds in a mixed fifth and sixth grade event.

It is a big step up in company to the heats of the Gold Cup but the experienced New Zealand racing family believe Sandler deserves a shot.

“Sandler's time last week, first go, I was really happy with it,” Evans said.

“There's a lot of room for improvement in the run home, but his sectionals to the back mark were phenomenal.

“I'm thinking for the Gold Cup, they should be there or thereabouts.

“There's obviously a few interstate stayers that are going to come up, but we've been competitive with the dogs here, so hopefully running into the heats of the Gold Cup, we'll be there or thereabouts.”

Sandler provided the Evans kennel one of their biggest results of their time in Australia when the brindle chaser placed in the Middle Distance Challenge over 600 metres in the middle of December.

The Evans’ have set up shop at Churchable after their big move across the ditch and prepare a massive team of greyhounds.

Their Goldstar dogs are prominent at almost every race meeting held at The Q as they have chasers who compete over almost every distance and grade.

It has been difficult setting up a team in a new environment but as it edges closer to a year since the move, Riley says they are starting to feel comfortable in Queensland.

They have 50 in work and around 90 greyhounds, including pups, broodbitches and a couple of retired dogs, at their training complex.

“It's been really challenging, to be honest,” Riley said.

“As much as we're doing the same thing, it's really, really different to back home. 

“We're happy enough with how we're tracking along and hopefully we can have a bit of luck running through the carnival.

“The racing's obviously quite a lot harder, we think.

“We were really successful back home, we would win a lot of races back home, but it's a lot harder here. The competition's probably two to three times harder, I would say.

“So, we've been happy enough with how we've been going and we just keep tracking away.

“We've been pretty proud of how they've all been going.”

The Evans kennel does not have outside owners and just prepare their own dogs.

They are set to relocate again to a new training location in Queensland in the coming months.

“We've bought a new place, just still in Churchable, so we've got a new shed and a lot of new ideas that we're going to put into that place,” he said.

“We've sort of dreamed up our dream property and that's sort of been planned for a long time.

“We always wanted to do it back home, but there was no reason to do it, we had a really good facility where we were at home.

“We just decided we're going to have one crack, do it right, do it properly and hopefully try and build a greyhound paradise.”