Erasmus Duke. Photo Credit: Davide Zamboni
Chase The Dream dog Erasmus Duke has broken through for his maiden win, with the son of WA legend Tommy Shelby taking out the first at Cannington on Saturday night, October 7.
The 2022 Chase The Dream competition saw 10 new groups introduced to greyhound ownership, and although the Tommy Shelby x West On Shelby pup was just seven months old at the time, the experience has brought the large group together.
Erasmus Duke or Young Tommy/Duke/YT as he’s known around the kennels was bred by Linda Britton, and with nine pups in the litter, five have already gone on to win a race.
Jodee Jennings, who is in charge of the syndicate and communications for the Chase The Dream dog had the task of finding the perfect trainer for the special pup, and that’s how he wound up in the kennels of Lewis Clay.
“We found Lewis Clay and he decided he would love to take him on, which I thought was a great fit, obviously Lewis is only a young guy and quite new into the industry so I thought it would be a good fit to have someone new,
“With Chase The Dream being quite a new program that they had up and going, Lewis took him on, and he’s just been a great match.
“We have a mixture in the syndicate, we have some quite young guys in the syndicate and some families, so it’s been a really good fit.” Jennings said
With a large group of new owners on board, the win came as quite a thrill with Young Tommy now having nine starts for a win and three placings, with his stakes now over the $10,000 mark, with his owners set to experience the benefits of the West Chase bonus scheme here in WA, with an added $750 coming their way after Saturday nights win.
“We’ve got a fabulous syndicate of 10 new owners that have never been a part of owning a greyhound before, and it started off around 10 months ago when he was a 7-month-old pup, they came along, met him, and obviously won (the Chase The Dream competition 2022) and it was a slow process from there,
“Obviously being a seven-month-old puppy, they don’t do a great deal for a long time, so I started the Facebook page to try and keep them a little bit engaged with what was going on and show them the life of what happens with a greyhound and then how we start,
“How we start breaking them in and teaching them to race.”
With the grand finale of the Chase The Dream competition held at Cannington on June 4, 2022, 10 lucky new ownership groups each won a 10% share in the Tommy Shelby x West On Holly pup, and with the pup only 7 months at the time, Jodee Jennings wanted to come up with a unique way to keep the excitement going and keep their interests peaked.
“In December, he turned one, and we hadn’t had the syndicate back together since they originally won him, so we held a one-year-old birthday party for him and a naming day,
“All the teams came along and originally I had put out for the teams to all put in three names for him and we had a vote on the day, and that’s how they came up with Erasmus Duke,
“He’s obviously a Tommy Shelby puppy, so a lot of Tommy Shelby references came up, but Erasmus Duke was apparently the illegitimate son of Tommy Shelby in the actual TV show, so that’s how he got his name,
“we had a party for him, doggy birthday cake and everyone got to come back as a team and meet him again, because prior to that they had just done Chase The Dream and there were a lot of people, and this time they got to spend some one-on-one time with him and get some photos.”
One of the winning owners, Krystal Longo has a deep love and passion for the greyhounds, that she jumped at the opportunity to enter the 2022 competition, and in a stroke of pure luck when their name was pulled out of the bowl at the Grand Final, her dreams of greyhound racing ownership were ignited.
“It’s so awesome to see him right from the start to winning his first race within mere months,
“Lewis and his team are working hard with him and just so good to watch him get better and better each week,
“I love that most of the syndicate are also getting involved,
“Such a great incentive to show the general public how it all works and actually get them excited about something the dogs love doing.”
Although unable to make it on Saturday night to watch in person, Krystal and her husband Dave were cheering on strong from home, witnessing a collective first win for both dog and owners.
“The first win was super exciting, we just got back from overseas Friday PM, we were exhausted, and I thought we would put it on the big screen at home to watch, usually I just watch through my phone,
“We had hubby, my six-year-old and my own two greyhounds all in the loungeroom watching,
“Dave and I nearly had heart attacks watching.” Part-owner Krystal Longo said
Trainer Lewis Clay appeared on Greyhound Gossip on TABradio on Monday morning, with Peter O’Neill making mention that there was some very excited and loud owners on course on Saturday night to witness Erasmus Duke break through.
“It was good for the owners, I think most importantly they’ve been loyal and coming down for every race, so it was good to see a breakthrough, I wasn’t actually on the track but from what I’ve heard there was some pretty big roars.” Lewis Clay told Peter O’Neill and Leia Ernest on the show.
Clay has started weekly voice messages for the owners to keep them informed and up to date with what’s going on each week with the dog, something he’s taken on board from racehorse trainers who often use this type of communication for large ownership groups.
“I’ve just started so its all new to me, so I probably haven’t been the best at it, but I think its perfect for the owners as well, I kind of do a bit of form as well so I’m probably able to tip a couple every now again and say I think he’s a good chance,
“Most trainers have got an idea of where their dogs are at and if they’ve got a good chance, but just to give them that information, some owners like to have a bet,
“We see little things that the punters don’t.”
Lewis confirmed that the dog has come a long way, re telling a story of when a young Erasmus Duke took two steps at trials and turned back around and came back to him, but he’s getting better and gaining confidence with each run.
“He doesn’t have the perfect early speed but he’s always up there close and he puts a good run down the back, and he does weaken towards the end, it’s always getting a bit of luck in the run,
“I actually expect him to get better when he goes to Mandurah.”
https://vimeopro.com/greyhoundswa/20231007/video/872095470
Ashleigh Paikos