Whitney Hits The Switch On Southern Stars Assault

A chance discussion at his work Christmas party was the catalyst for talented Tassie dog man Shane Whitney to return to the training ranks and on Friday he ventures to the mainland to contest a Goulburn heat of the Southern Stars series.

Whitney, the former trainer of champion chasers Chinatown Lad and Fallen Zorro, took a break from the sport in 2021 but returned earlier this year after learning his employer was a racing enthusiast.

FIELDS AND FORM GOULBURN FRIDAY

"The guy I work for back home, a bloke by the name of Steve Wyles, has a heap of pacers," Whitney said.

"To cut a long story short I went to our Christmas party last year, didn't even know he had horses and I overheard him talking about his pacers.

"We got chatting about racing in general, I told him about my experiences in the greyhounds and he said "why don't we go and buy a couple of dogs"?

"I said, ‘we can if you want to' and it's just evolved from there."

Wyles' first foray into ownership was "a couple of handy ones that didn't cost too much" namely Smoke Show and Miss Piccolo before a handful of wins resulted in the owner wanting an upgrade.

"He asked me to go and buy a decent one and we were able to buy Hit The Switch for $100,000," Whitney said.

"I said to him we've got to try and get some prizemoney back for you so I'm going to have to do some travelling.

"It's easy to jump on a plane or boat when you're going with a fast one."

Coming off back-to-back track records, all eyes are on Hit the Switch as a short priced favourite in the first leg of tonight's quaddie in Hobart – https://t.co/qXjnEOla3C pic.twitter.com/HkbGZu9Gf6

— Tasracing Australia (@TasracingAus) May 11, 2023

Hit The Switch is engaged in the third of the Goulburn Southern Stars heats over 440m on Friday.

"I arrived up here last Friday, he trialled at Goulburn on Monday and ran 24.74, got lost a bit on the bend so I was happy with his run. He'll improve off that," Whitney said.

"It's not going to be easy.

"There's plenty of talent in the heats but that's what you expect when you get to this level.

"He's a good beginner so hopefully he does everything right on Friday and can get himself through to the final."