Richards and Oriental Owen Going Strong
Star shortcourse sprinter Oriental Owen is on the verge of a couple of pretty serious milestones and his Trainer Stephen Richards is simply happy to be here to witness it.
Six months ago Richards was in Fiona Stanley in the Intensive Care Unit and his family were asked to come in and say their farewells.
“I was not in a good way and the Doctors had the family come in to see me in the ICU.” Richards said.
“I had a lung transplant 12 years prior and unfortunately with time I developed some issues with that lung.”
“The Doctor explained I effectively had a 2% chance of survival with the procedure they were about to try.”
“Fortunately I was in the 2% that the procedure worked for!” Richards explained.
Fast forward six months and Richards is on the road to recovery and his pin-up chaser Oriental Owen just keeps on winning.
Oriental Owen has won his last nine starts in a row and if successful on Thursday night at Mandurah he will bring up his 50th career victory.
Oriental Owen, a son of Awesome Project and Isadoll has had 89 starts for 49 wins and a further 16 placings making him one of the most prolific winners in WA chasing over the last decade.
“He had started 27 times in the east coast prior to arriving for 7 wins but he didn’t look like he would run the 520 metres so the opportunity arose for me to purchase him.” Richards said.
“Thinking back it took him a little while to settle in but once he did he just blossomed.”
“I was bringing him back from a break at one point and put him in over the 275 metres and he flew.”
“From that point onwards I have kept him in the Free To All’s over the shorter trips and he keeps delivering.” Richards commented.
Delivering is an understatement – Owen has won 39 of his last 51 starts!
Richards credits his family and team of greyhounds with nursing him back to health.
“It’s been a tough few months but my family and the dogs have kept me going.” Richards said.
“It’s a real team effort with the dogs with my wife and daughter playing a big part in the success of our runners.”
“We love our greyhounds and get a huge thrill out of watching them race.” Richards added.
Richards has had some quality chasers over the years and rates Oriental Owen right up there with the best he has trained.
“Dollstan Cruise and Dollstan Dream are two of the better city grade dogs I have raced over the years in town but on pure weight of winners Owen has to rate up there with as good as I have had.” Richards said.
There will be plenty of punters myself included who will be cheering extra hard for Oriental Owen to take out race 7 at Mandurah on Thursday night – a special moment in waiting for both Oriental Owen and his Trainer Stephen Richards.
David Shortte