YOUR beloved first greyhound is in labour. As she’s heavily pregnant, you’ve been chewing your fingernails down and pacing outside her kennel for days – anticipating the moment her first pup will show itself to the world.
Finally, it’s there. It’s breathing. Relief floods through your veins. You sit with your bitch, and reassure her with a few pats on the head.
Flash forward two years, and her offspring are ready to race. Those hard months of rearing and preparation are culminating. You feel proud. It’s finally here.
Lisa Cockerell knows this feeling just as well as anybody. She has been breeding, rearing and training greyhounds with her husband Ian for the last eleven years – all while juggling full time parenthood and full time jobs.
And they have kept Harry Potter fans amused by naming so many of their greyhounds after characters that feature in the seven part fantasy series.
Now, the Cockerell kennels find themselves positioned to take a leap at the coveted $10,710 VBIS maiden series at Ballarat tonight, with both Mafalda Hopkirk ($5.50) and Igor Karkaroff ($16.00) cementing a place in the final with impressive qualifying triumphs and drawn in Boxes 1 and 3 respectively.
They will be looking to follow in the footsteps of kennelmate Peter Pettigrew, whose emphatic VBIS success at Sandown in 2013 demonstrated the potential of the Cockerell line – which started after Finlandia whelped a litter to Bombastic Shiraz in 2009.
“It’s really special, because we basically breed, rear and train our own. I watch them being born, and Finlandia was my heart and soul – she just meant the world to me,” Lisa Cockerell said.
“To have litters from her and to watch them grow up after putting all the work into them is amazing. To get them to the track and let alone into the finals of the Vic Breeders, it’s really nice.
“All of my dogs are pretty special to me.”
Lisa is optimistic about her greyhound’s chances in the VBIS final, due to the favourable box draw of both greyhounds. Despite this, she was quick to state wariness of pre-race favourite Hard Bargain – who is trained by Kellie Bravo.
“The boxes are a huge advantage to us. We’re a little bit concerned they might stuff each other up – you know what happens when you’ve got two dogs in one race,” Ms Cockerell said with a laugh.
“We were pleased (with both Mafalda Hopkirk and Igor Karkaroff) in the heats. Mafalda Hopkirk has been battling tonsillitis for a while – not that we’ve been disappointed, we think she’s been going really well all things considered.
“I don’t think they’re outsiders, but it’s really hard to say. The Bravo’s dog (Hard Bargain) is clearly a jet and I think he’s the one to beat. If he gets caught out a bit though, and one of ours gets some space, I think they’ll be hard to run down.”
While Lisa and Ian Cockerell are listed as trainers for the Cockerell kennel, their four-year-old twins Morgan and Taylor will argue otherwise. The twins each claim to be the ‘real’ trainers of the Buckley based kennel – preparing greyhounds such as Group 2 finalist Cornelius Fudge.
“Taylor and Morgan are four, and they’re kind of at the age where they know what’s going on now – so it’s really exciting watching them as well,” Lisa said.
When asked if “Izzy” (Mafalda Hopkirk) and “Kenny” (Igor Karkaroff) could win on Wednesday, both Morgan and Taylor replied with an enthusiastic “yes”.
The GRV VBIS Maiden, which is set for Race 5 tonight at 8:18pm, is part of a huge double-header of finals, with Race 8, the prestigious $7,860 Carmichael/Howell Memorial Final (545m) set to jump at 9:23pm.
.
Ballarat Formguide: Click Here
.
.
