Oakey ‘daring to dream’ of Adelaide Cup success.
Brenda Oakey is daring to dream.
The South Australian trainer will hold the local hopes in the 2023 Group 1 TAB Adelaide Cup final after Fiorano capped its excellent recent form with a blistering heat run to finish second behind Big Energy and book its place in the final.
For Oakey, the whirlwind of making an Adelaide Cup final was still sinking in.
“Oh, it's unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable,” Oakey said.
“I’m still buzzing. It is just a dream come true. It’s not something you even think will happen this quickly and I am just so excited.”
Fiorano arrived from Victoria into the care of Oakey earlier this year and has quickly established itself into one of the rising stars in South Australian greyhound racing.
Fiorano has won seven of its ten race starts including the Kings & Queens final while also winning a match-race against Panama Pepper and running second to Big Energy in his Adelaide Cup heat.
While Fiorano showed ability in Victoria winning five races, a foot injury and a mutual connection saw it head across the border into South Australia
“He came across, he'd had a foot injury and whilst he'd been going really well interstate, the foot injury obviously set him back a bit.” Oakey said.
“I'm fortunate enough to train another dog for the gentleman in the syndicate that owned Fiorano and so they got in contact and asked whether they could send him over and just see how he goes with his recovery and give him a few runs.
“It was just to see how he comes along and he's just come along in leaps and bounds. He just doesn't do anything wrong.”
Fiorano’s impressive South Australian form cam as no surprise to Oakey who knew immediately that she had something special in her kennel in Fiorano.
“The first day I slipped him,” Oakey said when she realized Fiorano was special.
“I brought him here to Gawler and slipped him from the puppy boxes and he hadn't had a start or even had a hard run for months and he went 13.64 from the puppy boxes, which here is a pretty good run.
“So at that point I knew that this dog is really special. He also came over with everyone's high opinion of the dog and what I'd seen, obviously, he was a really good dog, but once you got your hands on him and saw him, it was just awesome.”
Fiorano’s recent SA form has been capped by its success in the Kings and Queens final where it held off the fast-finishing Could Be King before running over the top of Panama Pepper in the SA vs All-Stars match-race series.
While Fiorano’s early speed has been a feature, Oakey has also been impressed with the way it has been able to close out races recently with excellent finishes.
“His recent form has been really pleasing. He’s been quite lucky because he has got that early speed. In the wins prior to that, he's had the opportunity where he's been able to get the break, get in front and sort of set the terms of the race himself,” she said.
“Whereas in those particular races, I think he was doing all of that and then suddenly he could hear and the other dog was there, but fortunately he was able to hang on.
“It's obviously a big ask of any dog to go into something like that and I've got enormous respect for the dog and I just thought it would be a great opportunity to put him to the test and he was fabulous.”
Fiorano’s meteoric rise follows a similar trajectory to that of Oakey herself, who has quickly gone from new trainer to Adelaide Cup finalist in the space of three years.
“Well, I haven't been in greyhounds very long at all. I've been very interested in greyhounds for many years but I hadn't sort of taken the next step to do anything about it,” she said.
“A few years ago, I had a bit more free time, we started going to the track and then Greyhound Data advertised a dog, which I really liked the sound of a pup, so I bought a pup. Then I got involved with Des Hockley and Renata (Maruszczyk) and they sort of encouraged me to take the next step from ownership through to doing training, so I just helped them with their dogs, and then it just progressed from there really and so I've only been training for two years.”
After making the cup final, Oakey has been overwhelmed by the support of the South Australian greyhound racing community and was looking forward to the final on Friday night.
“The response has been fabulous,” Oakey said.
“They (Des and Renata) have taught me so much along the way and you can never stop learning and it is great to be able to just ask questions here and there on different things because there's always something that you need to know.
“Also, friends and family and fellow trainers have been so supportive and encouraging. It's really lovely and I am really grateful and thank you to everyone, it's wonderful. And of course, obviously the owners. I'm very grateful to the owners of this dog and the previous trainer for allowing me to train him.”
As for Fiorano’s chances in the Adelaide Cup, Oakey was daring to dream of Cup success and making it another South Australian Cinderella story.
“Oh, you'd have to you'd have to you've got a dream you've got a ticket in the race so you have to dream,” Oakey said.
“I think he's probably got a little bit more in him. Now that he's racing with these dogs and he's racing against faster dogs, he's being forced to work a bit harder early and then in those middle splits but he just keeps stepping up to it. I do believe there's a little bit in it but we'll have to wait and see exactly how much.
“There's eight dogs and there's eight chances but it's certainly high class certainly a high-class race but you never know fingers crossed.”