It seems that there are more slot races theses days than Scalextrix could ever imagined when Fred Francis added an engine to their old kid’s tin (Scalex) cars to invigorate appeal and some exciting dash back in the1950s.
Full throttle forward and slots have become synonymous with other forms of horsepower and competition.
The Pegasus in the US gallops originally giving The Everest a template for Racing New South Wales to burnish a concept (now worth a staggering $20m - propped up by slot holders) and you know the rest, Quokkas etc.
Harness Racing tacked on, of course it had to be the richest in its world sport too ($2.1m) and Eureka had their first momentthis year at Menangle which was well enciphered. Same blueprint.
Greyhounds, were already onto it, they are now into their third incantation of The Phoenix and ditto, it’s the richest race in the world for the dish lickers (ok, let’s call them - the dogs) at $1.65m with $1m to the winner and they are off to Broadmeadows (ok, let’s call it The Meadows) this Saturday, and the only dog have won it so far, appropriately called Wow She’s Fast, is back again, though slot holder SportsBet rate her only a $9.5 chance.
Rivals Ladbrokes have their investment in a dog called Schillaci. A slot costs $100,000, and their runner is the roughie at $31, but he’s hardly despised. Let me tell you a little why.
Try Jihad Talgi (let’s just call him Talgi because everyone else does), the pizza shop owner from Carrum Downs (it’s called Unclew Drews by the way, and there is a story in that too that I’ll get too) and Schillaci, the dog he named after his second favorite racehorse, that he bred and raised and now puts them onto greyhound racing’s biggest stage.
That’s alongside the likes of AFL champion Jonathan Brown and his dog Alpha Zulu, which represents the Good Blokes Society, a men’s mental health group awareness charity, prepared by the sport’s leading trainer Jason Thomson (who also has Postman Pat for Greyhounds HQ), hoping to rise in The Phoenix.
Back to, let’s call him Jono, later, and we’ll dive into his rich greyhound credentials, just like his mate and GBS ambassador Wayne (let’s call him The King) Carey, who was walking dogs at Wagga before he was 10 and seriously kicking the footy, and both who will enjoy not just the night but the GBS Christmas Party, and talk Schillaci with Talgi.
“I love the dog, he’s like another child to me,” says the father of five, a Lebanese immigrant, who has been running pizza shops in Melbourne suburbs for 31 years and greyhounds for about 20.
And around the Devon Meadows barn of the Talgi family, (he only has one other in work, Saint Parr who ran Monfay at Shepparton), Schillaci is called Jackson, because his 12-year-old son wished for it. It is a family affair.
“You know how you reward the kids with a drive through at MacDonalds after sport, this dog gets that too, after every race or trial, we go for a soft serve, and he gets a lick as a treat.” (Let’s say there is no topping though).
There will be a million treats on Saturday night if Schillaci does what seemingly no-one else expects and wins The Phoenix, but there is no defeatist attitude from Talgi. After all the series promotion is called Dream Chasers and he is living on nervous energy this week promising Uncle Drew’s will be closed for a week if he wins for a party and a second week to recover from the first.
And look out for a GRV promo shoot including the bloke who rode the equine star Schillaci (D Oliver) otherwise now known as The Goat, as he rides for the last time about the same time frame the dog Schillaci hopes to rise in a Phoenix!
Talgi's foray out of the ovens and onto the tracks started with a dog called Culver City, (they called him Chopper). Since then, the besotted Collingwood fan has called greyhounds Sidebottom and Daicos and DeGoey and extensions of those Magpie stars he loves.
Indeed, between moving and building pizza shops three times, he has enlisted as a security officer at the Collingwood Footy Club and is still a close friend of Mal Michael, a Collingwood recruit who was part of Brown’s Brisbane lions premiership team. “We even watched the preliminary final together this year, at the Sands Hotel,” he said, which just happens to be around the corner from Uncle Drews.
Ok let’s knock that bit out of the way before getting back to the Schillaci naming bit.
“Do you want to hear a funny story,” he says, which obviously is an instant ear pricker and you hope that it is.
“We were sitting watching this movie called Uncle Drew, had basketball stars like Shaquille O’Neill and Kyrie Irving and a host of other stars acting older and it was a funny feelgood story about taking on kids who thought they weren’t good enough and we all loved it,” he said.
Irving had starred as Uncle Drew in some Pepsi Max commercials and was the premise of the storyline.
“Everyone has got an Uncle Drew and we just thought it was a good name. Now everyone comes in and thinks my name is Drew.”
A dog named Uncle Drew came around the same time, won 14, but wasn’t a snip on Schillaci.
Then there weren’t many as good as Schillaci, the soccer player who gave Schillaci the racehorse his name.
“Schillaci was my second favorite racehorse, we used to go and watch him, but Hareeba was my favorite, Schillaci never beat him home in a race (and yes that’s true in three clashes),” he said.
When the name Hareeba wasn’t available for the star of the Flying Hareeba litter, it had been reserved, Talgi asked about Schillaci, and the rest is 10 wins from 18 starts later, knocking back a $100,000 then $130,000 offer (he’s won $72,000 so far), and acceding to his wife’s decree that Flying Hareeba be desexed (insert smashing head emoji.)
“She was sick of all the litters, we’d had about 20, I did say she probably cost us a fair bit of money,” he said.
“Look don’t get me wrong, the money (from the Phoenix) would be life changing and it’s not just the winning, but to be there is such an incredible achievement to have been selected in the Top Gun by the panel, to have two other slot holders chase our dog, vindicates what a great dog he is. We’ve haven’t been beaten yet.
“Collingwood might have won the flag, that’s a team achievement and one for the fans, I’ve got to go and di it in the Phoenix with my dog, but wouldn’t it be special.”
So too for Shaun Wallis and his GBS family, built from sportsman lunches into a life changing movement that has 450 members, a chapter in Singapore, but now helps men from all walks of life with all sorts of challenges, just recently the recent their “Walk for 9” hours across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Wagga to raise $50,000 for their “Wellness Society” to assist associated charity partners.
Wallis and brother Travis started in fashion, Travisty, sold to Target, before he went on an affiliates path with Sportingbet, that branched into connections like, let’s call him Dipper, because its easier to spell than Robert DiPierdomenico, that led to GBS evolving from a “glorified punter’s club” to becoming a structured help movement.
“Getting involved with The Phoenix, gives our members another way to connect and share stories in an environment that they all feel comfortable in,” said Wallis.
That Alpha Zulu runs for the GBS slot has much symmetry (apart from the chance at the $1m.) Brown is part of the GBS community, Carey, an ambassador.
"Wayne was only telling us about his early days walking the dogs 2.5km a day when he was seven or eight, and Jono is so passionate about his greyhounds, it’s a cool experience no matter what and we are enjoying the commitment, who knows one day we may take our message further with a slot in The Everest.”
And Brown, with his mother Mary’s lifelong passion for greyhounds, alongside a relationship with champion trainer Jason Thomson, makes the GBS/Alpha Zulu partnership a perfect fit.
So much so that in the slot deal, Thompson has promised a decent percentage to GBS supported charities like Outside TheLocker Room, Black Dog, Stop Stalking Now, Mindful and Put Your Hand Up.
Can you picture a young Brown in tuxedo, handling Horsham Cup winners. Sure there has racehorse shares like in Group I winner Snap Dancer, but mention Mary’s Modern Assassin, a 37 time winner, dual Perth Cup winner and Paws Of Thunder champ, and you know the passion for the industry and those around her, not just family.
It was inevitable and disciplined that Jono would one day find a good dog.
“Anyone who met Mary, well she was an angel, one of a very rare people,” Thompson said.
And it was Thompson who patiently found Alpha Zulu for Brown and partners, that include Fox Sports boss Steve Crawley (who hasn’t seen the dog race live) as shared partners.
“It was more a case of being in the right place at the right time, I found him off a trial didn’t pay big money, sure I never thought he get to where he has, but I knew he was the right dog we just had to be patient.”
"It is great now that the industry can get come publicity out of this along with the charity connection, we are all locked into that.”
“This is bigger than the Melbourne Cup, it’s worth $650,000 to the winner, this is a million, but it is so much more than that, tradition doesn’t pay the bills, prizemoney does for sure but events like The Everest, watching that crowd sing Sweet Caroline, and being part of the build up to The Phoenix is fantastic for the sport.”
So, it is Saturday night, $1m to the winner, just eight dogs, all with stories entwined.
By the way, Talgi’s only other dog Saint Paw won that big Shepparton Maiden Final Monday (and at $3 – so he’s up and about for the week and if you want a MeatLovers pizza, you’d better get cracking.)
And as a cute aside French Indie rock band Phoenix, recently released their seventh studio album co-incidentally titled “Alpha Zulu”, and then no doubt Postman Pat was on high rotation in kid’s loungerooms this morning. As well as some Good Blokes out and about at Broadie on Saturday night.
Let’s call it greyhounds’ real dream chasing night.
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