Wow… “Team Greenough” ‘Unleash’ yet another champ in the making!
Yes, Unleash In Miami (Apr '22 KC And All x She's Got Wheels) looked every inch a star of the future when, on debut, he semaphored a scintillating 23.42sec victory (scoring by 6.6L) in a Bendigo Gold Rush Maiden heat (425m) last Sunday.
Prepared by Brad Greenough , 26 – grandson of feted husband-and-wife training combination, Kel and Jackie Greenough – Unleash In Miami was just over two lengths off the 23.28sec track record set by retired country cups king Typhoon Sammy in a Bendigo Cup heat on October 9, 2021.
"He's definitely shown ability all the way through, but to run that first up was a real surprise," Greenough said. "I was very shocked and very happy at the same time."
A gauge of Unleash In Miami's raw brilliance is that Typhoon Sammy won three Group 2 country cups (Traralgon, Horsham and Bendigo) in 2022.
"He's definitely shown ability all the way through, but to run that first up was a real surprise."
And another measure of his untapped talent is that greyhound racing aficionados, dare I say, were drawing parallels with retired world record prizemoney earner Wow She's Fast – also in the Greenough camp – when she first hit the racetrack with a mind-boggling 27.5-length win in 29.09sec at Sandown Park on September 26, 2021.
But a pragmatic young Bradley was quick to curb the enthusiasm and dampen the hype.
"I think he'll struggle to run 500 metres… We're just trying to keep level heads," he simply said. "We'll focus on this series and take it as it comes."
However, it's difficult not to be impressed by Unleash In Miami's staggering display.
One doesn't have to be Archimedes to calculate he'll be a long odds-on favourite to take out a $12,000 first prize in the final on Easter Sunday.
Unleash In Miami has drawn awkwardly in box six but Greenough says, "if he gets a clear run, he should be thereabouts". "However, anything can happen in a dog race."
Greenough, who returned to training ranks a couple of months ago, has five greyhounds in his name. Unleash In Miami is the only one racing and the others are "young up-and-comers".
"I was out of the sport for a few years," Greenough said. "I was doing an apprenticeship in landscaping, but greyhound racing has always been in my DNA. I'm keen and ready to go!"
The Bendigo Gold Rush Maiden Series has been a happy 'prospecting' ground for the Greenough family.
Kel and Jackie won the race with Mint Power in 2010, She's Got Wheels (23.51sec) – the dam of Unleash In Miami – in 2021 and Aston Exceed (23.49sec) in 2022.
Unleash In Miami is bred and owned by Greg Sprod and Tyrone Whittington who also raced Wow She's Fast and She's Got Wheels.
A winner of three races from only four starts, She's Got Wheels (undefeated in a heat, semi-final and final of the 2021 Gold Rush Maiden) was retired after sustaining a stopper bone injury in a 2021 Pink Diamond Rookie Short Course heat at Warragul.
