Dogged trainer wins, at last

By Gavin Staindl
NOT even a severe bout of pneumonia could stop Devon Meadows greyhound trainer Karen Leek from travelling to Shepparton to see her first group race win in 40 years of training.
Leek was at home during the heats, battling the severe condition that hospitalised her for eight days but the confessed nervous wreck still found the energy to watch her dog, Din’s Son, progress through the heats.
“I was that emotional when I went to watch him on TV,” she said.
“I had so many people helping me out with the training and taking him to races and the machining and rubbing him down while I was in hospital … I was still sick and I was just a nervous wreck.
“I was bawling my eyes out after the race,” Leek said.
The next week the stubborn Leek made the trek to Shepparton to watch Din’s Son pull away to claim the $28,000 Shepparton Cup.
Incredibly, the group two win was Leek’s maiden group stage win; a drought that has lasted over 40 years of greyhound training.
“I was telling everyone, no matter what the doctor says, I am going to the race, and I was on a total high until I got back home at almost 3am,” she said. “He is just a little superstar,” Leek said of her dog. He doesn’t always have the best of luck but he is just a little trier.”
Leek said it was a combination of excitement and relief at finally winning a group stage that met her on the track post-race.
“I’m always making finals and getting so close but I could never win a group stage,” she said. “You’ve got trainers like Darren McDonnell who are just so good and they seem to bump you out every time they race.”
Asked whether she would get frustrated by the zero group wins but the abundance of seconds and thirds next to her name and Leek said with a laugh: “You just get used to it”.
Last weekend Leek thought that the Shepparton Cup would follow a similar pattern, believing that Din’s Son, who is nearing four years of age, would get caught up along the rail and get pushed out.
“He is not the best box dog,” she said. “He needs to be left alone for 10 metres to find his feet and I was worried the No. 7 would run to the rail and squeeze him out.
“To my surprise I saw him out in front with the pink dog and I was praying that he would win it and to his credit he pulled away.
“When he was standing on the dais he knew he had done something good, and I was thinking to myself, ‘You little goose, if you had of won more of these you could have experienced this more often’,” Leek said.
Din’s Son, who has battled a wrist injury for months, will race at the Meadows on Saturday night before retreating to a quieter schedule.