Hot dog ‘bites’ the knockers

By Paul Pickering
CATANI greyhound trainer Graeme Jose chose to bite his tongue in the lead-up to last Thursday night’s Group Two McKenna Memorial final at Sandown Park.
When the knockers came for Jose’s kennel star Mantra Lad after an underwhelming heat run, the Longwarry footy coach resisted the temptation to defend his champion stayer.
And that made the Lad’s stunning all-the-way victory even more satisfying.
The reigning Sandown Cup and National Distance champion ($3.20) was never challenged on his way to a fourth Group title, holding off $2.10 favourite Amity Bale to win by 2.5 lengths.
His time of 41.91 seconds was the second fastest ever recorded over the 715m journey at Sandown Park.
“He was sensational,” Jose said, revealing that the dog had sustained an injury exiting the box in the heat.
“They all wrote him off (after finishing third) and didn’t worry about him too much, so that was great. I just did the work I had to do and he did all the talking for me.”
Jose, who works with his training mentor Darren McDonald at Devon Meadows, said he was getting used to the doubters.
“That’s the game we’re all in,” he said.
“They can’t wait to knock really good dogs, so as soon as he (Mantra Lad) puts one bad run in they’re on his back saying he’s not chasing.
“Sometimes you’d like to say something, but you just keep it inside and hopefully the dog does everything for you.”
Mantra Lad could hardly have done more on Thursday night. He broke the second and third split records for the venue and Jose believes the track record is vulnerable under the right conditions.
“If it was a fast track I think he would have broken the record,” he declared.
“And it would be a good goal to go for now, because he’s just about achieved everything – and he continues to set the standard.”
After taking the biggest chunk of the $36,000 McKenna purse, Mantra Lad took his career prize money over the $320,000 mark.
Jose is unsure whether he will take the star two-year-old to Brisbane for this week’s Super Stayers shootout, but plans to give him a six-week spell before attempting to defend the National Distance crown in Perth this September.