A profile on the Australian Greyhound “Addis Boy”

By Hamish

Addis Boy was whelped in April 2001; his sire was Token Prince, one of Australia’s top sires and the top sire in New South Wales, and his dam was Fantasy Fortune, a bitch with an excellent record as a racer. He is a black male greyhound weighing 34.5 kg, and he is known to his friends as Rambo. He was bred by Fred Didic and trained by Doreen Drynan, and his current owner is Richard Vrckoff of Northern Rivers Stud.

Addis Boy had a fantastic start to his racing career, breaking the track record in his debut at Lithgow and going on to break the track record again in his second race (29.47 and 29.34), and then again in his fifth race, this time at Gosford (29,75). He also won the Gosford Gold Cup. In his first eight starts, his overall winning margin was more than 60 lengths. He was a Group 1 Australia Cup finalist in 2003, winning his semifinal in 29.92 (faster than the time of the eventual winner, Bogie Leigh, in the final). His career record was 19 wins from 41 starts, and he was able to win from every trap. He tended to be a slow starter but he had the impressive ability to win in around 30 seconds after coming from behind. His career lasted only just over a year and was ended by injury, but in that short time he won $60,000 in prize money and showed himself to be a first-class racer.

He is beginning to make his mark at stud, not surprisingly for a triple record breaker, and is expected to be a particularly good brood bitch sire. His progeny show a lot of strength and are tending to be stayers rather than sprinters, just like he was. His daughter Punk Angel recently won at Wentworth Park in 30.08.