Tamou Banner In A League Of His Own

FOR those that remember the chasing capabilities of former top flight sprinter Are Jai Que, it will come of little surprise that her first crop of offspring to import sire Kinloch Brae are currently burning up the tracks.

And leading that charge is the Luke Adams-trained Tamou Banner, the exciting youngster, named after Penrith Panthers front-man James Tamou, making it three from three to remain unbeaten with a brilliant 25.22 heat victory in the Commercial Painting Group Series (450m) at Maitland last Thursday afternoon.

Kicking off his career with a slick 22.47 Bulli maiden win over the 400m on September 22, the November 2016 whelp followed that performance up with an even more impressive 22.32 romp a week later, leading into last week's outstanding Maitland win in 25.22 – a track and distance he performance trialed at back in June in a cracking 25.18, three months before his racetrack debut.

For 24 year old Adams, who works full-time for trainer Jason Magri, he couldn't be happier with Tamou Banner's ongoing progression, just the second greyhound the Tregear based conditioner has had in his care.

"He's a pleasure to train, I couldn't fault him in anyway, he's just your ideal dog in every way," said Adams on Wednesday afternoon.

"Barry (Gibbons) bought two from this litter – a dog and a bitch at three months from their breeder Ash Quirk – and he reared them and broke them in, so he's seen them develop right the way through.

"I was really grateful Barry gave me Tamou Banner to train, he did start off a bit slow and took a while to learn what it's all about but Barry was always optimistic that with some age and maturity he'd turn into a really nice dog – especially on the bigger tracks.

"Back in June when he went 25.18 in the trial at Maitland I was a bit surprised as he went 25.70 odd in a trial there the week before. After that though he had three months off with a back muscle tear and I said to Barry when he returned from that it was a blessing in disguise as he went back into work a different, far more mature dog. He grew a leg actually in his trials."

With Tamou Banner courting plenty of attention on the strength of his unbeaten run, the remaining five pups to race in the litter are holding up their end of the bargain as well, overall boasting 14 wins from 36 starts – a winning strike-rate of 39%.

One of those is the talented Galaxy Banner, trained by Gibbons, the five race winner favourite for Wednesday night's opening heat of the Ladbrokes Young Star at Wentworth Park, whilst another two from the litter, Fierce Fran and Secret Talks, will also tackle the series for trainer Mick Clayton, who put the polish on Are Jai Que during her racing days.

"There isn't a lot of difference ability wise between Galaxy Banner and Tamou Banner but early on she (Galaxy Banner) just came to hand a lot quicker," added Adams.

And when quizzed on Thursday afternoon's box seven draw for the final at Maitland, Adams was rather optimistic.

"It's not a bad draw out there but he's only had the three starts and can't afford to put a foot wrong tomorrow," Adams said.

"Last week he crashed down to the rails but he waited until he crossed them so hopefully he can show that same sense in the final. After Thursday I'm thinking of taking him to Wenty to trial him and see how he goes there now. The (Group 1) Vic Peters is coming up and whilst it might be a big ask for a young dog that's only had 3-4 starts you have to be in it to win it and he is racing his own age. I've got no doubt he'll get a strong 520m and I'm starting to really believe two turns will suit him as well, with his pace he could really break them up down the back."