Meet the female “Clark Kent” of Victorian greyhound racing – Donna Furey.
A budding ‘superwoman’ of the sport, if you’ll excuse the pun, Furey juggles greyhound training with her vocation as the Head of Microbiology at Australian Clinical Labs.
RSN racecaller Victoria Shaw recently caught up with Pearcedale-based Furey and says her “understated and calm manner combined with her remarkable ‘other life’” left the impression she was a proverbial “Clark Kent”.
Both of Furey’s greyhounds – She’s Exquisite and Nifty Nelly – won at Healesville from the ‘pink’ (Box 8) on January 9. In fact, She’s Exquisite snared her third successive victory, posting 19.41sec, up the Yarra Valley straight track.
“I enjoy coming home from a stressful day at work… take them for a walk and give them cuddles.”
“I’m very happy with both girls; they did a great job!” she said.
And when Shaw remarked how pretty She’s Exquisite is, Furey quipped: “Yes, and she knows it too!” And both started laughing.
Ironically, Furey has considered plenty of ‘scientific aspects’ with She’s Exquisite.
“I wanted to bring She’s Exquisite to the straight track as she’s recovering from injury, and we wanted to build up her fitness. We started her over the 300m and now she’s up to the 350m.”
WATCH: She’s Exquisite (3) registers 19.26sec at Healesville last Sunday.
She’s Exquisite first tasted victory at Healesville when she won over 300m on Boxing Day, gaining a run as a reserve from box eight and nabbing the impressive Mr. Dazzling approaching the finish in 16.82sec.
And now she boasts an impressive 19.25sec PB over the 350m trip.
Furey mentioned that Nifty Nelly was also recovering from injury.
“She was also coming back from injury, and we wanted to build up her fitness as well.”
Furey elaborated on Nifty Nelly, which has recovered from various injuries including shoulder and calf.
“We just gave her a couple of months off, and just walked her and then started galloping her.”
Nifty Nelly broke through for an exciting victory, also from the ‘pink’, on January 9. She clocked 16.71sec in the last event of the day.
It followed her second placing on Boxing Day, narrowly behind Main Force, and a second again, on January 2, behind Zipping Sixes. With all three runs at Healesville, over 300m, after a five-month break.
She’s Exquisite makes it four on the spin at Healesville.
Furey – whose father, John, also trained greyhounds – tries to keep her ‘other life’ quiet in the lab, but her co-workers do enquire as to how her kennel is going.
“I enjoy coming home from a stressful day at work. It is so wonderful to come home and spend time with the greyhounds and take them for a walk and give them cuddles.”
She’s Exquisite ($3.70) backed up with a smart 19.25sec win at Healesville last Sunday. Furey took home $4250 courtesy of her victory in a GRV Vic Bred Series final (350m).
Nifty Nelly proves too ‘nifty’ in her first Healesville win.
Unfortunately, Nifty Nelly could only manage fourth in a Mixed 4/5 (300m) on the same program. Furey has been training Nifty Nelly for six months and it was only her fourth start for her.
She’s Exquisite (Nov ’19 Orson Allen x Jett Momentum) has won six from 11, while Nifty Nelly (Oct ’18 Barcia Bale x Sal Talk) is seven from 39.
Pawnote: Kel Greenough referred She’s Exquisite’s NSW owner, Greg Sprod, to Furey as he wanted her to race in Victoria.
WATCH: Nifty Nelly (8) semaphores 16.71sec at Healesville on January 9.
