Neville Loechel fills up with a Monday night 4fa
Neville Loechel is a popular man within the Greyhound Racing fraternity in South Australia, and the successful breeder/owner/trainer had a huge night out on Monday night at Angle Park, training four winners from his own ‘Weblec’ breed. A typically modest Neville didn’t expect much going into the night, but the surprising results were certainly welcomed by Neville and the team, which brought much excitement and joy.
“I can’t believe it! It usually takes a few years to get four winners in a night but they did what they did.” said a jubilant Neville Loechel.
“It’s our first ever lot of four winners, we had previously only ever had two on the one night. It’s probably our last ever four winners as well!”
The winners for the night included Weblec Star, Weblec Mist, Weblec Whirl and Weblec Pearl. The first two which were Weblec Star and Weblec Mist, started short priced favorites in their respective races and won well. Weblec Whirl and Weblec Pearl certainly surprised a few, winning at huge prices and performing particularly well. Weblec Whirl was able to defeat a very strong field over the 530m trip with a fantastic display of early speed, ensuring she found the front and from there she was too hard to catch. Weblec Pearl had been racing over the ‘600’ but returned from a short spell over the 342m trip. She was expected to be outpaced and out of the race, but that wasn’t the case, as she was able to land close enough to the speed, before launching late and winning in a slick 19.47.
“I felt reasonably confident that Weblec Star had a good chance. I thought Weblec Whirl was none as she had only had a couple trials and a couple of short runs. Weblec Mist I wasn’t sure about after the last week as she got a few checks but got home okay. The last girl (Weblec Pearl) had a little injury so had some time off, I thought she was okay and had a bit of help from an old friend - Ray Jolly. We felt pretty confident that she was good to run so instead of trialling, I just put her in and from box 1 she just railed so well, she’s the best railer I’ve ever had!”
With most of the ‘Weblec’ breed racing in Victoria, Neville has brought a few of them back to Adelaide in search of easier and cleaner racing. His small team all started their careers interstate, but have made the move back home in recent times.
“Once you win some races in Victoria you get an aggregate based prize money grading and you can be up against some experienced dogs. A few of the girls were getting knocked around a bit so I said to Angela Langton that because we want them as broadbitches, why don’t we race them over here.”
Neville has an easier way of training the Greyhounds, with a focus on keeping them fresh and their minds active.
“Ray Jolly once said to me, you’ve got to train the dogs to run for 30seconds, not 5 minutes like the old days. So we mostly walk or trot the dogs. I think one of the more important things is to keep their mind active.”
Whilst only a hobby, Neville does have a large team of family support at home, mainly from his wife Jude and his brother Robin. He also receives help from his daughters and granddaughters which make training the Greyhounds a family effort.
“It’s a real family affair, sometimes some of my daughters will help when Jude comes to the races, and my granddaughters also help out. Robin (Loechel) will help on days like Monday, he will come down to the races and then stay overnight before working at the straight track the next day.”
“The difference is that we absolutely love the animals, it’s not about making lots of money. They fascinate me, the Greyhounds.”
The next wave of ‘Weblec’ dogs are on the way through, with Neville currently looking after a large team of pups at home.
“We’ve got five at home that are in training, there's 21 young pups aged from 1 month to 3 months at the moment.”
Whilst still buzzing from the massive night on Monday, Neville hasn’t decided where to next for all of the dogs, but would like a couple to have a crack at the Murray Bridge Cup heats which are only a few weeks away.
“I am hoping that maybe a couple of them like Weblec Mist and Pearl might be able to have a go at the Murray Bridge Cup, but we will see how they go.”
May the success continue for Neville and the team!
