Ashlee Griffiths Gets a Birthday Winner
It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to lead in a winner on your birthday, but Ashlee Griffiths achieved that at Gawler greyhounds on Friday.
Ashlee has recently moved with her mother, Bec Romyn, from Moe in Victoria’s Gippsland region, to set up their kennels at Two Wells. Bec is responsible for the training and Ashlee handled their two runners engaged at the meeting, For The Thrill and Tarra Rocket.
For The Thrill was a starter In the third race, a Grade 6 over 400m and from box 7, was led at the start by Rhynstone Blake from box 1. Heading into the back turn, For The Thrill hit the front but was unable to establish a clear break over Rhynstone Blake and Bazza’s Babe (2). Heading into the home straight, For The Thrill was able to pull away, winning by nearly two lengths over Rhynstone Blake for Bec McAuley-Fry and Bazza’s Babe for Jayde Hurley. Owned in Victoria by Ned McDonald, For The Thrill has a great record of three wins and three placings from just six starts. Ashlee considers that over time the black dog should be capable of running the 500m journey. Bec ‘s other runner, Tarra Rocket, wasn’t quite as successful in a Grade 6 531m event, running second to Simple Man, trained by Bosko Stamenkovic.
The handling of Bec’s dogs at the track was performed by Ashlee, and I caught up with Ashlee at Angle Park the next day. Ashlee explained that her mother decided to make the move to SA, which has opened up opportunities for them. They are finding the racing scene to be more relaxed here which they enjoy, and they particularly like the G Six concept of six dogs in a field, and the follow on lure in operation at Gawler. The straight track at Virginia is viewed as a big positive, with the only downside being the lower prizemoney on offer in SA, although the opportunity offered with smaller fields can compensate.
The family has a large kennel with an equal number of pups, older pups at the pre-training stage and racing stock. The operation requires a lot of work for Bec and Ashlee, which means that sometimes only one of them can be at the track. In a real family affair, Ashlee’s younger brother Jakob is proving to be a big help around the kennels. Ashlee is keen to take the next step herself and has recently applied for her own training licence, in a positive move.
Racing at Gawler is normally every Friday and Tuesday afternoon, but there will be another of our popular Sunday night meetings on Sunday 27th September, in lieu of Friday 25th. Due to COVID-19 measures, bookings will be required, and can be made on 8522 2935.
Ashlee Griffiths at Angle Park, with another of her runners, Preconcieved