Justifiably proud owner/trainer/breeder Carly Feltham can barely contain her excitement ahead of home-grown youngster Kysaiah’s city debut at The Meadows on Saturday night.
Named after another sporting prodigy in Melbourne AFL premiership hero Kysaiah Pickett by Demon supporters Carly and husband Kane Palmer, the canine Kysaiah has started his career with a bang.
After running fourth and second at his first two starts, the hulking 35.5kg son of Zambora Brockie and Wharfie’s Girl has won his past two at Sale in Best Of Night time over 440m, gapping his rivals in 24.70sec and 24.80sec respectively.
Devon Meadows-based Feltham is now optimistic he can complete a hat-trick on Saturday when he exits Box 5 in Race 3 at 7.18pm, where he’s joint $3 favourite with TAB.
“I’m really excited!” Carly said.
“Kane told me I need to calm down but I can’t help myself!
“He’s the quickest dog I’ve had and there’s a lot of satisfaction because he’s essentially third generation.”
Kysaiah traces back to Feltham’s somewhat reluctant introduction to greyhound racing with a giveaway brood bitch called Dewana Savanna.
“We got Dewana Savanna from Brendan Dewan,” Carly explained.
“She was from a good line; (half-brother) Dewana Result broke a track record (Warragul).
“That was how I got into dogs. When Kane said he wanted to breed a litter I said I’m not up for this at all! I could remember Kane’s mum cooking stews for the dogs and I said ‘I’m not cooking stews!” Carly laughed.
“Dewana Savanna had three litters. The first litter (to Cosmic Rumble) had city winners and then her second litter (also to Cosmic Rumble) included Italian Plastic and Wharfie’s Girl, which were both Group finalists. A fast dog is what gets you hooked!
“Wharfie’s Girl was in the (G2) Laurels. She was only 23 or 24 kilos and was so little it only took one small check to put her out of the race but she always tried her hardest.
“Kysaiah is from Wharfie’s Girl’s first litter. We call him Big Marty; when he was born he was so big we called him Marty The Monster, but he’s just the most beautifully natured dog I’ve had.”
WATCH: Exciting youngster Kysaiah (7) completes flying back-to-back BON victories at Sale last Sunday when streeting his rivals in 24.80sec.
While she might be averse to preparing stews, Feltham isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty educating her youngsters and with encouragement from good friend Lisa Hellmuth she broke-in and pre-trained Kysaiah and his litter.
She knew she had something special on her hands from the outset and Kysaiah is delivering on that potential, with the step up to ‘500’ in the big smoke the next frontier.
“We’ll find out on Saturday if he runs ‘500’,” Carly offered.
“Kane told me I’m throwing him to the wolves but I’m confident he’ll get ‘the 500’ and Box 5 doesn’t worry me if they jump.
“He does have early speed. He’s never missed it in any of his trials but he has missed it in three of his four starts, so hopefully he works that out.
“He’s doing it all on natural ability. He’s only had eight trials, including break-in.
“I started him off in a Vic Bred series at Sale and I don’t want to sound arrogant but I thought he would just win the heat and final. But before the heat we were stuck behind the boxes for an hour due to storms and lightning.
“I’ve already had someone ring me about buying him but Lisa Hellmuth rang me on Monday morning and said ‘Don’t you sell him!’”
Sale photos courtesy Tammy Lee Photography & Media
