Greg Stella is chasing ‘’back to back’’ Michael Miller Memorial finals at Capalaba. And with litter brothers !

Stella’s Rylee’s Enforcer  (pictured) romped home in last year’s straight track feature. The trainer has litter brother Rylee’s Ebony (Black Enforcer – Tranquil Touch) drawn box eight in this Saturday’s $3,000 to the winner final down the straight 366 metres grass course.

Rylee’s Ebony was a heat winner in 19.90 last Saturday from box eight. This was the joint fastest time of the day, also run by the Jim Heddles trained Gee Six who started from box one. Gee Six has box three for Saturday’s final.

Greg Stella and his wife Michelle have a much smaller team in work nowadays than in years gone by.

‘’It’s due to family commitments. We have two daughters, Rylee aged thirteen and Ebony who is six. It’s just not practical to have a large team in work and devote the time the children require,’’ said Greg.

The Michael Miller is run in memory of the former Toowoomba greyhound club starter who was killed in a motor accident at age 19. The event was transferred to Capalaba when the Toowoomba track closed in February, 2000.

‘’We had been trying to win this race for ages,’’ Greg Stella said. ‘’I met Michael when he was a kid and we used to race at Toowoomba when he was the starter there.’’

‘’We had the fastest heat winner, Rylee’s Rebel, in the 2006 series at Capalaba but he got cleaned up in the catching pen. He hurt his tail and we had to scratch him from the final. Reg Kay won it that year with Elite ’n’ Classy, in fact, Reg landed the trifecta. We will never know whether Rylee’s Rebel could have beaten Reg’s dogs that year.’’

Greg and Michelle use the word ‘’Rylee’ in naming most of the racing stock, named for their first daughter.

 ‘’We started it all about ten years ago with Rylee’s Rumour who won 31 of his 43 starts,’’ said Greg.

 

Story by Paul Dolan, photo by Rick O'Donnell.