Sandown Greys has announced that the out-and-out champion that lit up greyhound racing in 2015, the mighty Fernando Bale, has been retired.
A genuine superstar, he won 35 of his 44 career starts, including 33 of 40 in the calendar year of 2015, and accumulated nearly $1.3 million in prizemoney.
In a terrible year for greyhound racing, the dominance of Fernando Bale was a welcome change for anyone involved in the sport.
It culminated in August, when a decent crowd turned up at Wentworth Park to watch him take on some of the best sprinters in the land for the National Sprint Championship.
He didn’t disappoint, winning by 5.5 lengths in a slashing 29.26.
What was amazing was the reaction of the crowd. As he turned for home, the crowd spontaneously began to applaud the mighty champ, a rarity in any code of racing in Australia, reserved only for those equine and canine athletes that have captured the imagination of the racing public. I can’t remember it happening at a greyhound track before or since.
Fernando Bale is not a physical giant – weighing in at just under 30 kilograms, he’s a little lighter than the average dog. What stood him apart from other greyhounds was his balance when in a full gallop, his graceful symmetry and technique in running. Like human athletes, technique matters when trying to run as fast as you can, but it just isn’t something that you can teach a greyhound, it is innate.
In one important way, Fernando Bale will define a permanent change in the sport. Bred by the best greyhound breeder in Australia, Paul Wheeler, Fernando Bale was sired by the American Kelso’s Fusileer. Unlike Australia, the United States has a premium on hardy greyhounds, where the number of races they win is as important as their times or group wins.
This is markedly different to the sires’ list in Australia, where some greyhounds have one start and then are sent to stud. To produce a superstar such as Fernando Bale will hopefully change the how many breeders in Australia, where sires will have to show more on the racetrack for longer. It’s something the thoroughbred code could surely benefit from as well.
The mother, Chloe Allen, had 85 starts herself, including a few over the 700. While the best greyhounds on the track don’t always make the best sires, the extra genetic distance from the Australian breed, coupled with the fact that other greyhounds in the litter have won group races, says Fernando Bale will continue to have a major impact on greyhound racing through his offspring for years to come.
Finally, as I expect this is will be my last greyhound column for 2015, I’d like to thank The Roar for hosting my articles and improving my drafts, and to everyone who has made a comment, or read these articles this year. Also, thank you to the people that have either proofread these articles or provided me information, including the excellent staff at GRV and their Greyhound Adoption Program.
Hang in there lovers of greyhound racing, I predict 2016 will be a fine year for the sport, but it’ll be a bumpy journey!
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