Owner Phil Rae thrilled with Group 1 chance with Micks Recall

By Jordan Gerrans

The late great Mick Emery will be in the minds of the team behind Micks Recall when the stayer contests the Group 1 TAB Zoom Top at the Meadows on Saturday evening.

Trained by young dog man Jamie Hosking and owned by Philip Rae, Micks Recall will be one of three Queensland dogs on show on the night, which kicks off the TAB Australian Cup Carnival.

Owner and breeder Rae travels to Victoria on Friday morning aiming to enjoy the experience of having a dog race on a big Group 1 night and is not getting carried away about his bitch’s hopes against the elite stayers from around Australia.

The 62-year-old and emerging trainer Hosking have become close in recent years, with the pair connected through the late Emery.

Queensland’s greyhound industry was left deeply saddened by the passing of popular trainer Emery, who was Hosking’s grandfather, in February, 2019.

“He was a lovely bloke and we named the greyhound after him, Jamie’s grandad,” Rae said.

“We could not get the name Micks Memory so we went with Micks Recall.”

To land in a Group 1 Final for Rae, Hosking and Micks Recall seemed unlikely just a few months ago, with retirement considered for the winner of 16 career races.

“When she came on season last time, it crossed our minds to talk about it,” the owner said.

“She is still pretty young and she was going well until she came on season so we thought we would get her through it and keep going, that is where we are at.

“She will come on season this year – she seems to be a six-month bitch – and we will mate her then.”

Micks Recall comes from a fruitful litter - Dyna Double One and Pauls Memory – which also produced Capalaba Cup winner Columbian King, among other top dogs.

Rae has the unraced Pauls Memory laying around in his lounge room to this day.

While Pauls Memory never made it to the races, she has certainly been a part of some exciting litters.

“At five months old she fractured her leg and never raced,” he said.

“She was that well-bred that you could not breed with her and bingo, with her mother being a Group 1 bitch in Cavendish Flyer.”

The Churchable-based Hosking departed Queensland for Melbourne on Thursday morning and is lapping up the chance to race a dog on the big stage.

“It will be the first time at The Meadows for both of us. As I said to Phil, we have got to go to enjoy the whole experience,” Hosking said.

“There is not a lot of early pace in the Zoom Top.

“Quite a few are backmarkers so it might give us a good chance of getting up close to the lead.”

The black bitch has not won in her three runs since late November of last year but Rae was pleased with her performance in last Thursday’s Group 3 Gold Cup Final, finishing just under two lengths behind the winner from the outside alley.

“That was a huge run last week in the Gold Cup,” he said.

“She had not had a run for six weeks and then bang straight to 700 metres, she finished over the top of them.”

At 62 years of age and a retired builder, Rae is all about enjoying the experience of racing a dog he bred and owned in a Group 1 event in Victoria.

“That is why we are going down, it is a thrill for everyone involved, it is a thrill for Jamie,” Rae said.

“If she finishes the race healthy, that is all we are hoping for as she is not in the best form of her life.

“She has not drawn well and she has never seen the track before – if she gets around safely that will be enough for us.

“We are not expecting her to go down and win, if she was to run a place, I think I would be over the moon.

“These are some of the best stayers in Australia, we aren’t going down there kidding ourselves about our chances.”

The Rae and Hosking team may have found a few more promising dogs with Repeat Dose and Train Station both winning on debut earlier this month.

Extra Malt and TAB Phoenix runner-up Spotted Elk – from the strong Marburg-based kennel of Graham and Leanne Hall – will also contest Group 1 events at the Meadows on Saturday.

Spotted Elk will run in the 525-metre TAB Temlee with her litter sister in the TAB Rookie Rebel over 600 metres.