Dolly Does Margaret Proud

BURNIE owner/trainer Margaret Elphinstone couldn't have been prouder of her chaser Dolly Does It after she led all-the-way from box rise to land a 515-metre Grade 5 event at Launceston last Monday night.

 A $2.80 favourite from the rails draw, the back and white bitch was due for some decent luck in running, coming out running for a 3 ½ length win over Medium Rare with Tottenham Lass in 30.38.

By Destini Fireball out of Miss Hetti, Dolly Does It produced her sixth career victory from 59 starts.

"Dolly always goes out there trying, everything went her way, I couldn't be happier," Margaret said.

"This bitch loves to rail and when she came up with box one, I thought she was a good chance.

"She has won just over $15,000 and I only paid a small amount for Dolly from Scott Bryan, so she has definitely paid me back. You know she puts in every effort in all her races and is racing well in the placings and that's all you can ask."

Dolly Does It made her debut last July on a winning note at Devonport with a 26.32 victory.

It was five months before Dolly Does It came back into the winner's circle in December at Devonport with a sizzling time of 25.77 in a semi-final of the Breeders Classic, before finishing down the track to litter brother Hetti's Produce in the final.

Margaret Elphinstone's involvement with greyhound racing has stretched over many years. Her most noted top performer on record was Monica Rose, who finished a very close second to Flash Billy in the 1994 Launceston Cup.

The daughter of Best Of Blue won 14 races with 61 minors from 138 starts with $19,526 in stakes.

"Another dog called North West Star had a special story behind him," recalled Elphinstone.

"Peter Bohan was on the committee at Devonport and we raced the dog together. We went to Nixon Street Primary School at Devonport and the Library had burnt down, Peter asked me should we contribute some of the dog's prizemoney and that helped the school.

"After we made the donation the school used to bring kids out to the races sometime to watch North West Star and they got a real kick out of watching him.

"North West Star (x Osti's Idol) was starting to progress as a stayer and won a few races between 600 and 700 metres, the dog went to the mainland and came back but never was the same in the latter half of his career," she said.

Margaret and her late husband Ray where a formidable team producing solid performers, with Arnold having made his biggest training effort when Astradome Lad won the 1979 Hobart Thousand at the TCA, holding out previous year's winner New Griffin by four lengths.

The Elphinstone family name still continues to be in formguides to this day through Margaret's son Arnie and her daughter Sandra.

Sandra raced many dogs and Smart Aim was a notable performer even for trainer Russell Watts.

Smart Aim was a classy performer winning 33 of 63 starts during 1989 and 1991, holding the Devonport track record over the 580m running 33.00 which was held for eleven years until it was broken by Luke's A Missile in 2010.

These days Margaret still enjoys racing thanks to the efforts of her kennel star Dolly Does It.

"The family and I enjoy racing, I've always had just the one dog in the kennel at a time, Dolly Does It has still plenty left in her. She turns three-years-old this month and is still racing at her best," Margaret said.

Dolly Does It will return to Launceston next Monday night chasing third victory over 515m journey.