By order of the Peaky Blinders, Tommy Shelby retires a legend
He's the blue dog who not only took his home state of Western Australia by storm, but quickly gained a cult following and was appropriately dubbed ‘The People's Dog'.
Tommy Shelby was born on 8 March 2018, and the Withers family posted a heartfelt retirement announcement just a handful of days shy of his fourth birthday on his various social media platforms, which have gained thousands of followers throughout his illustrious career. A recent trial at Cannington where he posted a slick time of 29.78 was enough to determine his fate, with the post explaining this run was “below his best, aborting plans and retiring Tommy to the house and life of luxury he so well deserves”.
The son of Fernando Bale and reigning Australian Broodbitch of the Year Serena Fly High opened his winning account on debut on 4 December 2019 and quickly caught the attention of racegoers, posting a speedy 29.94 over the 520m at Cannington. He went onto win his next four straight and was only defeated twice during his first 13 appearances and claimed the coveted Sandi's Me Mum Memorial Final and Group 3 Perth Cup Consolation.
In July 2020, Team Tommy set-off on their first interstate journey to contest the G1 Vic Peters series at Wentworth Park, and he was simply stunning from box seven to cross the field and lead throughout in a sizzling time of 29.44. He set tongues wagging throughout the week and lost no admirers in a brave effort the following week, finishing second to Playlist.
With many eyes firmly locked on his next move, he returned home and strung together six straight wins and added another feature race win to his already impressive resume in the WA Sprint Championship Final and the Spring Gift Final.
During October 2020, Withers and Tommy headed back east to contest Australia's richest race series, the Million Dollar Chase at Wentworth Park. After a stunning 29.58 semi final win, he once again lost no admirers in the final overcoming a tricky box eight draw to finish third behind Handsome Prince.
The Tommy express then headed south for the Melbourne Cup series and once again after a stunning 29.21 performance in his heat, overcame a difficult box six to finish third in the final behind Hard Style Rico. Many were saying it was only a matter of time before he would break through for that illustrious Group 1 victory and it came less than three weeks later with a brilliant display from box eight in the Hobart Thousand Final in 25.55.
After two third placings, once again from box six in both the Group 3 Golden Ticket and Group 1 Gold Bullion Final, the 32kg chaser and his sidekick Steve headed back south for the G1 Australian Cup Carnival and he certainly didn't disappoint his legion of followers with a gutsy display in the final to salute by a quarter of a length and carved out the journey at The Meadows circuit in 29.86.
Team Tommy were well and truly flying at this point and due to adverse weather conditions and the postponement of the G1 Golden Easter Egg, Withers and connections made the heartbreaking decision to bypass their home G1 race being the Perth Cup to remain in Sydney and content the Easter Egg. In hindsight it was a master stroke, as Tommy blew his rivals away in his heat in 29.40 and made the final after finishing second in his semi final. His unlucky run of boxes continued drawing outside in box eight and having to contest with speed strung right across the track. When the lids flew, Tommy shanghaied from the wide alley and crossed his rivals to lead throughout. Superstar chaser Wow couldn't catch the blue flash with no surprises given he posted a stunning winning time of 29.27, making him one of the fastest dogs to ever contest the Glebe circuit.
Tommy Shelby retired with 31 wins from 48 starts, with 12 minor placings and a career prize money total of $1,020,870. It comes as no surprise that he is already a hit on the stud scene, with his oldest pups almost 20 months old and already a healthy number of pups on the ground right across Australia.