Brenda Oakey lands first ever winner as a trainer
Saturday Morning at Angle Park delivered a special moment for Brenda Oakey, the once in a lifetime moment for all greyhound trainers of having their first winner. Fired Up, which has been raced by Des Hockley for most of her career, was having just her second start for Brenda when she drew the coveted red box over the 342m trip. The black bitch delivered a professional performance, leading all the way in a neat 20.10. Brenda is a relatively fresh face to the industry and her involvement started just over a year ago when she saw a pup to buy.
“I’ve liked the dogs for a while and a little while ago I saw an El Grand Senor pup on Greyhound Data. I didn’t have a license or anything and needed somewhere for it to live, so I got put onto Des Hockley and Renata, and they agreed he could come there because they had a couple of pups the same age.” - Brenda Oakey
“He was there for a month or so and then they said do you want to come out and help, so I started going out there and helping them with their young pups and then the race dogs, before going to the track and helping at trials.”
The slow build then led to the decision for Brenda to build her own kennels.
“I had him for a while (the El Grand Senor pup) and then I got another one and I was getting keener and keener. So they said why don’t you get something that you can race while you are waiting for the pup to come on.”
“Ray Murray advertised some Saplings for sale on Greyhound Data, so I went there and bought Fired Up first, then a fortnight later I bought another one which turned out to be Run Girl Run.”
It was only a few weeks later after buying the saplings that Brenda got to see the pups winning on the race track, at that stage still trained by Des and Renata. As time went past their was a suggestion from Des and Renata to Brenda that she should get her trainer’s license, so that’s what she did!
“My husband repurposed the shed and built beautiful kennels, we’ve got 6 kennels and there's only three in there. I’ve got three sisters out of the same litter!”
“We’re near Virginia and go there to gallop, but we’ve also got a walking machine so we walk them in the mornings too.”
Winning was the last thing on Brenda’s mind when she took Fired Up to the track on Saturday morning, but the feeling was sensational.
“It was fantastic! You would think I won the Melbourne Cup!”
“I didn’t even think of winning, I just thought of them running because we had the two girls in the same race.”
Away from dogs, Brenda and her husband also run a market garden which keeps them very busy.
In terms of future goals for Brenda, her plan is to slowly build into the breeding side of Greyhounds.
“We would like a litter down the track, but we will just let it evolve. We don’t expect it to be massive or anything, just enjoy having a few dogs.”
It’s awesome to see new people in the industry and we look forward to seeing Brenda achieve more on track success!
Photo: Brenda happy as ever with Fired Up