Kysaiah has young Victorian greyhound trainer Carly Feltham excited ahead of Geelong Cup final
Indeed, as Victorian trainer Carly Feltham says with gratitude – ‘here we are two or three generations of greyhounds in'.
They are profound words because it was only less than a decade ago that Feltham became a greyhound trainer.
And now here she is with Kysaiah – one of the fancies ahead of the $70,000 Geelong Gold Cup (520m) on Friday night.
The two-year-old ran the quickest time from the heats, an impressive 29.75 seconds, to qualify for the Group 2 feature.
But Feltham admits she wasn't too keen on being a trainer before she started in “2013 or 2014”.
“I didn't particularly want to get into it when we first started,” she told australianracinggreyhound.com.
“Kane my husband, and his mum and dad – they had greyhounds when we were younger.
“And all I remember was his mum cooking stews (for greyhounds) on the stove top. And I was like ‘I don't know about this'.
“I remember saying to Kane – ‘if we get dogs you're on your own'.
“But now I'm the one who takes them to the track, and Kane stays at home with the kids.
“There's no turning back. Even if I won TattsLotto tomorrow, I'd still train dogs.”
Despite her attachment to her talented two-year-old, Feltham is not getting too carried at the thought of winning on Friday night.
“I'm far from it (confident about winning). Group races are like unicorns and he's only young. Can he win again? I honestly don't know. I wouldn't even say I was 50 per cent confident,” she said.
“He's still had 13 wins out of 24 starts, which is huge. But I would say sometimes you go in thinking they should win and they don't.
“There was a race at Sandown a few weeks ago (March 24). It was a Mixed 4/5 Grade race, and I honestly thought he could've won that. And he didn't.
“He just didn't seem himself when I got him out of the car. It's not often he does that because he does want to race.”
And when Kysaiah is switched on, his opponents better look out. Drawing box five for the Geelong Gold Cup, however, is a concern for Feltham.
“He's probably the most keen I've had, other than his mother (Wharfies Girl),” she said.
“When he jumps – as much as he's quick out, it's only once he hits the ground that he takes off and he shows his acceleration.
“The concern from box five is that he might get squeezed or crowded.
“He likes having that little bit of room where he can screw around the field and do what he needs to do with the acceleration he has.”
With this kind of attention to detail Feltham has towards her greyhounds, it is not surprising that she always puts them first.
“We had our first holiday two weeks ago in a few years. Purely because the dogs take so much of that from you,” she said.
But after becoming a trainer less than 10 years ago, Feltham quickly caught the competitive bug.
“Brendan Dewan gave us a brood bitch back in 2013 or 2014,” she said.
“He said ‘I've got a bitch who is too good to go to gap which you need to breed out of'.
“And Dewana Savannah was with us until she passed away when she was 13 or 14.
“We had a couple of litters out of her. And out of the first two litters both had city winners, and very quick dogs.
“(Kysaiah's) mother Wharfies Girl was out of the second litter from Dewana Savannah, so we said we'd breed a few litters and see how we go.
“And here we are two or three generations in.”
It hasn't all been smooth sailing, though.
“In greyhounds there are no shortcuts. If you don't give 110 per cent you don't get anything back,” Feltham said.
“If you put in 80 per cent those results show immediately.”
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Final (520m)
2022 Geelong Gold Cup FieldBeckley Park,520m$50,000 to the winnerGroup 2
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1 Winnington Bale T: Rebecca Gibbons
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2 Aston Merit T: Jessica Sharp
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3 Yozo Bale T: Correy Grenfell
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4 Substantial T: Anthony Azzopardi
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5 Kysaiah T: Carly Feltham
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7 Emani Bale T: Daniel Gibbons
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8 Unathi Bale T: Correy Grenfell
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9 Weblec Ranger T: Angela Langton
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10 Titan Blazer T: Daniel Gibbons
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