Margaret Rossendell Takes Treble In Her Stride
Richmond greyhound trainer Margaret Rossendell did not get overly excited about preparing a treble of winners at the NWGRC meeting at the Devonport Raceway on Tuesday afternoon, in fact on the way home she forgot all about it!
“On the long trip back to Richmond I started planning what I had to do with my team the next day and completely overlooked the fact that I had experienced a fairly successful day,” she explained.
Margaret was seen in the winners circle with Matt Black (Black Enforcer – Sounds The Best), Wine Vapour ( Vapour Whirl – Verduzzo) and Agent Bluey ( Where's Pedro – Agent Elle), to continue the recent run of success for her kennel.
Owned in Victoria by Gavin Kearns, Matt Black recorded his fourth victory in ten Tasmanian starts by winning the Surepick Grade 4/5 event as a well supported $3.30 commodity.
The Julie Bannon owned Wine Vapour was sent out a $7.70 chance from the pink box in winning the Seba Sheetmetal Grade 5 event, her tenth win in 72 Tasmanian outings.
It was then left to Agent Bluey, raced by Margaret's son-in-law Wayne Howells, to complete the treble, relishing the red box to record his fourth win from 11 Tasmanian outings in winning the Simon's Design Centre Grade 5 event at the cramped odds of $1.50.
Margaret has enjoyed a long and productive career as a trainer, her best wins having been the time honoured 1990 Hobart Thousand with Bacchant and a Gold Collar with Magic Magnet.
She gives the late Bob Brown much of the credit for her making a success of her career.
“I spent a great deal of time with Bob and he virtually taught me all that I know,” she explained.
“He had a wonderful knowledge of the game and was always available to help out – in addition he was a thorough gentleman.”
Just over a year ago Margaret lost one of her best helpers when her grandson Billy Grice was killed in a car accident.
“Billy loved the greyhounds and would accompany me to all the meetings and catch my dogs for me,” she explained.
“Even after he started his apprenticeship he would still come to the night meetings despite having to get up early in the morning for work.”
“Billy endured a lot of sickness and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – I really believe that these things are sent along in our lives to test us.”
Billy's mother Amanda has now filled the void left by his untimely passing and caught Margaret's three winners on Tuesday.
Margaret has no plans of increasing the size of her team, despite being constantly offered chasers to train.
“I treat it as a hobby, it gives me a reason to get up in the morning and keeps me reasonably fit and that is all I can ask,” she explained.