Caption: Champion Queensland trainer Tony Brett, with another potential champion, Orchestrate, after success in the Rockhampton Cup 

By DAVID BRASCH

THIRTY-year-old Tom Kinnear was just 24 when he realised thoroughbred racing was not for him.

Tom, a former schoolboy sprint and rugby star, had bought with his dad Graeme into a small piece of a horse in the Chris Waller stable. It was no Winx.

\”Horses are a significant financial investment,\” said Tom. \”I realised immediately it was not for me. But I wanted to get into racing and greyhounds seemed the perfect opportunity.

\”They are cheaper, but the best bloodlines are much easier to access.

\”And, I fell in love with the breed as soon as I got involved.\”

Tom is now 30 and he and wife Rose are expecting their first child in August. And they and his parents Graeme and Chris have made a significant investment into greyhound racing.

It gave them their first taste of Group success when Orchestrate (Barcia Bale-Speculate) was dominant in winning the Group 3 Rockhampton Cup for trainer Tony Brett.

Tom paid $16,000 for Speculate (Premier Fantasy-Surpassing) and a litter sister, full sisters to Group star Jagger Swagger, back in 2014.

\”By that time I\’d got to know some of the people in the greyhound industry and got what I determined was the best advice I could get,\” said Tom.

\”It was based around buying the best bloodlines available, but getting them reared right and then sent to the very best trainers. It is advice I have lived by in this industry.\”

Speculate was going to be anything after she won her maiden at Albion Park in 29.90. She was sent to Jason Thompson in Victoria who predicted she would make a top class stayer.

Unfortunately, Speculate broke a hock before racing for Jason. Tom brought her back to his parent\’s home in Brisbane and planned a breeding career. Her Barcia Bale litter is based on the fact Group 1 star Mepunga Blazer is by Barcia Bale from a daughter of Premier Fantasy exactly the cross Tom would produce.

Speculate is named after Tom\’s work career. He is a global markets investor for HSBC having done an internship with Goldman Sachs when he left school.

He and Rose are based in Sydney.

Dave Pringle reared the Barcia Bale litter and four of them, Orchestrate, Interrogate, Assassinate and Manipulate, are city winners and they only turned two late in March. The future is assured for them all.

Tom knew when he was 24 he was moving into an industry that would be a long-term process of achieving success.

\”Long term success doesn\’t come instantly,\” he said.

Tom also has been on a path to keep his family interested in his greyhound racing exploits.

\”That\’s why winning the Rocky Cup was so important for us all,\” he said.

\”Keeping Rose motivated in our greyhound racing investment is a process in itself in the past five years.

\”I needed to get everyone around me enthused. Racing is a tough game. I\’m confident now that we have won our first Group race that the process has been a success.\”

Speculate has a litter by Aston Dee Bee just being broken in and Tom says three of the dogs and one of the bitches show high class potential.

He sold her third litter, by Zipping Garth.

The Rocky Cup success by Orchestrate proved he is a special young dog.

\”His 29.62 in the heat was the fastest time run on the track for three years and then he went 29.44 to win the final,\” said Tom.

\”The improvement in him has been very quick and we will be interested to see him put that sort of improvement into his Albion Park races coming up.

\”He beat Mitchell Street by five lengths in the Cup final and he has won in 29.80 around Albion Park.\”

Tom says he has stuck religiously to the advice he got when first coming into the industry.

\”When I approached Tony Brett to take Orchestrate to train, he was happy to do so,\” he said.

\”And by Tony doing that, it was ensuring we got the right system under way to increase the probability of getting the dogs that can run.

\”It\’s all an integral part of being successful in racing.\”

A Rockhampton Cup victory is a great starting point.