Dalgety’s sizzling debut has Evans dreaming big

By Josh Spasaro

Riley Evans has no shortage of work among his new 60-dog kennel block at Churchable.

But, when he had the opportunity to acquire Dalgety for his big family operation, he did not blink.

In fact, he said “you’d have a few screws loose” to knock back a chaser of his quality.

And, he lived up to expectations by winning the second Publicans Cup heat over 520 metres in a sizzling 29.38 seconds at Q2 Parklands last week.

It was one of the fastest runs for the year, with retired great Cumbria Jack holding the record of 28.99 seconds.

As a result, the two-year-old black dog owned by Garry Cleeve and his partner, Gaylene Turnwald, in New Zealand will be one to beat in the Final this Thursday night.

It was a suggestion from a woman who used to work for the Evans family - Xanthe Newman - that put the wheels in motion for the Mepunga Blazer and Classy Witch chaser to be sent to South East Queensland.

“Garry’s partner Gaylene and my mum are like sisters. I’ve got a lot of respect for their family,” Evans said.

“They do it similar to us and breed their own dogs. There was a time when us and Garry had the best stayers in New Zealand and we went head-to-head every week.

“Xanthe Newman used to work for us, she’s now gone and started working for them once we came over here.

“She texted me and said, ‘you should try and see if Garry wants to send these dogs over’.”

Litter sibling Beam was included in the six dogs Turnwald and Cleeve sent across and he also qualified for the Publicans Cup Final, finishing second in his heat with a time of 30.43 seconds.

“I gave Garry a call and he said, ‘oh, we didn’t know whether you guys would want to take them’,” Evans said.

“That was because at the time we were moving to our new place, they had come over to see us and we had a lot on our plates.

“Garry said ‘I didn’t think to ask because I thought you guys were under the pump’.

“And, I said ‘no, I am under the pump, but they’re really quality dogs’. And, if you’re going to say no to quality dogs coming into your kennels, you’ve got a couple of screws loose.”

Evans could not have been happier with Dalgety’s Australian debut in his Publicans Cup heat.

“That was amazing. He was super. He trialled unbelievable and broke 30 seconds in his first go, going 29.91 seconds, which was fair humming first go,” he said.

“Any dog who can break 30 seconds on a trial day is going really good.

“Then second trial he went 29.69 seconds and got a fair few people talking. We were just hoping he could repeat the trial on Thursday night."

Evans said Dalgety was thriving at the family’s new Churchable location after they originally moved from New Zealand to Morgan Benjes’ property in the same area.

“It’s full air con inside and outside yards. All the dogs have their own awning where they can lie under during the day,” he said.

“It’s no expenses spared, but the way we’ve always looked at it is if you put everything you can back into your dogs, then you’ll get the results back.”

Evans believes Dalgety can quickly progress through the grades.

“He came over really well-graded. All New Zealand racing is classed as provincial,” he said.

“He was a Group 2 winner last start. But, because of that he came over as a fifth grader. It was good for him to come over and have a good hit-out first go. We’ll work him out and try to target a couple of features with him.

“You look at the company of dogs who have run that time, they’re some pretty special animals.

“Just to have one who can run similar times to them, we’re real stoked with him. He’s a big, powerful-looking dog with a stack of ability and a will to win.”

Evans said he was hoping Dalgety and Beam would not draw close to each other for the Publicans Cup Final at Q2 Parklands on Thursday night.

“Hopefully they don’t draw next to each other because they always seemed to meet each other in New Zealand,” he said.

“If Dalgety goes to the front in 5.03 seconds again, I’ll be stoked to see that.

“But, we’ll just play it by ear, see what we draw and take it as it comes.”