Burn One Down to ensure Buck Fever continues to spread
BURN One Down (Buck Fever x Fancy Jaffa Jan '14) is on song for the upcoming Group 1 National Distance Championship series after breaking the long-standing Sale track record on Sunday night.
The black dog, trained by Seona and Jason Thompson and owned by Dave and Danielle Pringle, clocked a phenomenal 36.67 over the 650m trip – breaking the 36.71 benchmark set by Mantra Lad (Pure Octane x Al Fresco Jul '16) way back in December 2009.
Dave Pringle, who bred Burn One Down, was full of praise for his superstar stayer and his Pearcedale-based trainers.
“It was very special for Burn One Down to break the record on Sunday. The record had been around for a long time and to see him come out and break it on a winter track was just unreal,” Pringle told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“Full credit to Jason he told me three weeks ago that he was going to target a race at Sale and said that the dog was going enough to knock the record off – it was a big call because there have only ever been three dogs to break 37.”
Burn One Down's efforts on Sunday were especially significant given Pringle lost his home-bred sire, Buck Fever, just two days prior.
Buck Fever (Brett Lee x Kiacatoo Pearl Dec '09) only had limited starts on the track due to injury, but has made an indelible mark as a sire with his limited matings producing group 1 winners Bourbski Fever (Buck Fever x Midnight Movie Oct '13) and litter brothers Burn One Down and Buck Forty.
Pringle was left devastated by Buck's passing which occurred suddenly last week.
“He seemed fine. He was fit, shiny, happy – next minute I thought he had a minor injury in his wrist so I took him to the vet and we found out that it was bone cancer,” Pringle said.
“The vet wanted to amputate his leg, but I didn't want to put him through that because he was a big dog so it would only cause problems with arthritis down the track and there was no way of telling whether it had spread elsewhere so getting the leg off may not have fixed the problem.
“We made the decision to put him to rest – now its time for his pups to carry on his name.”
Pringle says he has plenty of faith that Buck Fever will continue to produce winners, but explained he will retain the few remaining straws he has for personal use.
The Clergate conditioner, who has bred countless freakish greyhounds, says Buck Fever was the ideal greyhound in every way, but says he will be missed most of all as a much-loved family companion.
“People look at me like I have two heads when I say he was better than dogs such as Burn One Down or Shakey Jakey,” Pringle said.
“We had a lot of issues with him so he never got to show his best on the track, but I know my dogs and I know how good he really was.
“He was a one in a million dog – he had the best personality, the breeding, the ability…in my eyes he was the perfect dog.
“I had offers for him for upwards of $75,000 as a stud dog and people called me mad for knocking them back.
“But it was never about the money, Buck was my mate, and I can't tell you how much I am going to miss him.”