Gayelene Townsend’s Long Trip Pays Dividends

Trainer Gayelene Townsend did not let the long trip from Ranelagh deter her on Tuesday when she ventured north to the Devonport Raceway with the recently litter sisters That Was Then and Hannah Boden ( – Flippin Cool).

Both chasers ran creditable races and obviously took no harm from the four hour journey, with Hannah Boden greeting the judge in the Grade 4 (452 metres) event and That Was Then finishing second to the well related Quick Advance ( – Stylish Moon) in the Invitation (452 metres).

That Was Then and Hannah Boden are now raced by the Collis-Townsend Syndicate and have both greeted the judge from their new environment.

brought them to Tasmania and we purchased the pair from Mangalore trainer , who was caring for them at the time,” Gayelene explained.

“I am involved in the syndicate, along with my son-in-law and several of his friends. Our aim is to hopefully win another race or two and gradually work through the grades.”

Gayelene, who is assisted in her training endeavours by her husband Allen and other members of her family, was introduced to the greyhound racing industry by her father back in 1943 and has been involved ever since.

She has prepared several top class chasers, but none have been better than the smart bitch Queen's Doll, a TCA specialist who won numerous races on the now defunct Glebe circuit, and the very good Tea Tree Bandit, which won a major White City event.

Top Thunder, a Puppy Championship winner, was another smart chaser to have done the Townsend kennel proud and Gayelene is quick to point out that both her mother and her father enjoyed success in that race as the trainer's of Mad Century and then Nippy Bug.

Gayelene only has four chasers in work at the moment, but is eagerly awaiting the chance to attend to a litter of pups by Head Bound from She's A Boomer, a daughter of the outstanding matron It's A She.

“It's A She threw a marvelous litter to Head Bound, so I thought I would go to him and see if history could repeat itself.”

The re-introduction of hurdle racing in Tasmania would prove to be a very popular move as far as Gayelene is concerned.

“I enjoyed a great deal of success with hurdlers and it enabled the greyhounds to race for an extra year or two, besides they really loved what they were doing and isn't that what is all about?”

Meanwhile promising chaser Buckle Up Fletch () was also seen in the winners circle at Tuesday's NWGRC meeting, when he accounted for a good field in the Juvenile (452 metres).

Raced by Robyn Johnson and Murray Mace, he is prepared at Ulverstone by Gary Johnson and has now won two of his five outings and is shaping up as a star of the future.

Everlong Bale, by , is best known as the dam to of a highly successful litter, which includes the super chasers Buckle Up Wes and Buckle Up Mason, which have both excelled on interstate tracks in recent months.

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