Above: Devon Meadows couple Jon and Jenny Roberts, pictured with daughter Angela, were ecstatic after Lord Ducal’s win in the Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park last week.By Brad Kingsbury
VETERAN Devon Meadows greyhound owner-trainer Jon Roberts’ star Lord Ducal upstaged several of the largest kennels in the land to take out Australia’s richest dog race, the $250,000 Group 1 Solo Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park last Thursday night.
The triumph was the crowning moment in a 30-year association with the sport for Roberts and his wife Jenny, who run a two-dog operation from their one-acre property, and the thrilled trainer was overwhelmed afterwards.
“It’s just a dream,” he said. “I’ve been in greyhounds a long time and I never thought this would happen. It was my turn to have the luck tonight.”
Lord Ducal jumped fairly from box seven but drove through a narrow gap between Dyna Lachlan and Octare to take the lead on the first turn.
He extended his margin down the back straight and proved too good in the run to the line to defeat the gallant Dyna Lachlan by two and a half lengths in a time of 29.53 seconds, the second fastest in the race’s 54-year history.
Sentimental favourite Mr Moorooduc, owned by a group of young primary school friends from the Mornington Peninsula, recovered from heavy interference at the first turn to finish third.
Top fancy Take Kitty was always well back while Graham Bate’s hot fancy Turanza Bale fell after receiving a severe check on the first turn and followed the field home a distant last.
Roberts, who was described on radio after the event as a ‘backyard trainer’, acknowledged the efforts of Jenny who bred Lord Ducal, Greg Bennett who reared the dog, and the Tooradin Trial Track for breaking it in.
“Jennifer and I are a team and we loved our dogs,” he said.
“I said six months ago that this dog was good enough to win a Melbourne Cup but he did cost me a lot of money early. If there was trouble in a race he aimed for it.”
“The first time he went to Warragul he ran the fastest time for two weeks and I thought ‘gee I might have a good dog here’. He’s won a Melbourne Cup now so I was right,” he chuckled.
Roberts, 63, started training seriously when he was 27 after a stint with the Australian army in Vietnam and has been a devotee of greyhound racing since.
“I moved back to the house where mum and dad were (in Brighton) and the kennels were still there. I got a couple of give-away dogs and that was the start of my love affair with greyhounds,” he said.
He made the Melbourne Cup final once before in 1988 with his then star Plugger, but said he would not be expanding his operation on the back of last week’s victory.
“We’re not getting any younger and I won’t be training dogs for other people. Owners are harder to train than their dogs,” he laughed.
The win brought Lord Ducal’s record to nine wins from his 26-race career and total career prize-money to $217,715.
The night proved a great success for the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club, with near record turnover figures.
