‘Man’ gets Flying Amy ‘Photo’

Tynong North trainer Gavin Clifton and his cousin David McKenzie didn’t achieve the ‘perfect quinella’ in last night’s $100,000 to-the-winner Group 2 Flying Amy Classic (520m) at Albion Park.

But the parochial Victorians would have been proud the ‘Big V’ still went 1-2.

They won the race with Photo Man ($3.50F) – which is developing a large image on the Australian sprint scene – while Amron Boy ($5.50), prepared by Brooke Ennis, was a half-length away second in 29.77sec.

Pazienza ($41.00) finished in sixth position, six and three-quarter lengths in arrears of his kennelmate.

The final was a virtual carbon copy of his heat, when Photo Man defeated Amron Boy by a half-length in 29.76sec.

“If he pulls up a million dollars in the morning, we’ll be back on Thursday next week.”

“It’s a huge thrill, a huge thrill,” Clifton told racingqueensland.com.au.

“We might’ve had to come 2000km to get the biggest thrill of our lives, but it was worth it.

“As much as I’d like to take him home, it’s beautiful up here in Queensland. Beautiful one day and perfect the next, as they say.”

Clifton and McKenzie sent the dog to Marburg trainers Graham and Leanne Hall in preparation for the series, where he settled right in.

“Graham and Leanne Hall have been absolutely unbelievable the last two weeks,” Clifton said.

“They look after their own like you wouldn’t believe, and they looked after ours just the same.”

Clifton said the Brisbane Cup was the logical next step, but next Thursday’s Super Sprinters, should they receive a call up, would not be out of the question.

“If he pulls up a million dollars in the morning, we’ll be back on Thursday next week,” he said.

A finalist in the Million Dollar Chase, Photo Man notched his 10^th win (with four seconds and four thirds) from 22 starts. His stakes spiralled to $191,870.

Winner of the Launching Pad Consolation in mid-April, Photo Man finished second to Silver Brute in the Healesville Derby as a lead-up to the Flying Amy Classic series.

Victorians PHOTO MAN (B1) and AMRON BOY (B5) go 1-2 in the G2 Flying Amy Classic at Albion Park.

Clifton, 54, combines greyhound training with a full-time job as a sonographer (ultrasound technician). He’s been with Monash Health for 33 years.

And he travels from his Nilma North residence to Tynong North every morning to exercise a 12-dog racing team before heading off to work.

Clifton fondly recalls the day he arrived, ‘just down the road’, at breeder Gerrie Sneyders and Pearl Terry’s greyhound property to collect a repaired muzzle.

He noticed a 16-week-old litter (Dec ’19 Aston Dee Bee x Amlin Mystique) which were in beautiful condition and loved the pup with the ‘Roman nose’. He talked Pearl into selling him (Photo Man) and a female pup (Catch A Pearl).

Sneyders is the course photographer at Warragul, so that’s where Photo Man gets his racing name. His kennel name is “Gerrie” and Catch A Pearl’s is “Pearl”.