When Like Wildfire burst onto the scene in April last year, it didn’t take long for the whispers about his ability to spread…well, like wildfire.
The son of Goodesy x Freaky Tears set a new Gosford 603m track record in just his fourth race start, becoming the first greyhound to crack 34 seconds and wiping Blue Moon Rising and Punter’s Bandit’s names from the record books in the process.
10 days later, he didn’t just break The Gardens 600m mark, he smashed it to pieces by running 33.88.
The greyhound world was seemingly his oyster, and at the time, trainer Mick Ivers was adamant his future lie over further.
“He’s only a young dog but it looks like he’ll be a stayer,” Ivers said in May of 2023.
“He’s pulling up after some of these 600m runs and wouldn’t blow a candle out. We don’t know what we’ve got yet but he’s the fastest dog I’ve ever had and nothing I’ve ever raced has come near him.”
Ivers soon deciding to send his budding phenom to Robbie Britton in Melbourne, with three straight wins over the Sandown staying trip further highlighting his promise.
But not long after a mammoth victory on September 4, Britton noticed something was not quite right.
“The dog had borderline acidosis,” Britton said.
Like Wildfire is already a 12-time winner from 17 starts for connections
“He won a staying race by about 14 lengths and just didn’t seem right. Acidosis usually presents four or five days after a run and basically the dog can’t get rid of the lactic acid build up in its system and it starts attacking the surrounding muscles.”
“It usually makes a dog pretty sore in the saddle in the back and if left unchecked, it can really get hold of them. It’s something you need to watch with dogs that might be struggling with the conditions or the distances they’re racing. Thankfully we got our guy on the pain killers and gave him some antacid treatment straight away and he’s fine now.”
“It doesn’t happen too often but some of the superstars have got it [acidosis] in the past and it usually happens when they run out of their skin. Boomeroo used to be the best stayer in the land by a mile and even after a few seasons of staying, he won a Group 1 race in Brisbane and then got acidosis.”
Like Wildfire forced off the track for more than two months while recovering.
Finally making a return to racing in the Group 1 Topgun Stayers event behind Ritza Piper in November.
“I’ve had one or two dogs get it over the years but this is the first case I’ve seen of it in around three decades,” Ivers said on the eve of his star’s return to Gosford for the 603m heats of the Ladbrokes Summer Six-Hundy.
Like Wildfire in full flight during his heat of the Speed Star stayers event at Sandown in August last year. Credit: Jason McKeown
“He was going like a train up here last year and he was a wonder dog, then he got this [acidosis] thing and it derailed him. But he’s back now and he’s running good times again and his last win over 600m down in Melbourne was really good.”
Ivers making the decision to bring Like Wildfire home for the heats of the $25,000 Group 3 feature, formerly known as the Gold Cup, ahead of a tilt at the Victorian riches on offer in the coming months.
“We thought we’d get him back up here for a little holiday, hopefully improve his fitness a bit and then we want to show people what he can do down in Melbourne,” Ivers said.
“Box 6 is his heat of the Summer Six-Hundy is alright and the vacant box gives him room to move. When he won over 700 recently at The Meadows, he broke the 500m section record for the track but then he ran out of puff a bit. But on his best this Tuesday, he could annihilate them.”
“Our dogs love coming back home as well. When they get here you can see the joy in their eyes, so hopefully he has a good few weeks.”
Ivers and Britton aligned in their pursuit of Group glory for the dog they call ‘Ralph’.
”He’s still a work in progress but I’m happy he’s back on track now and I think the best could be still to come,” Britton added.
“I believe he’s a really, really good 600m dog and even though he’s run super quick times over 700, I’m not certain he’s a genuine 700m dog yet…but he could still develop into one.”
“And if he does, we can chase 700m races all year around because if you’ve got one of the best eight stayers, you’ll make every Group final around the country.”
“The big Melbourne races coming up in February are invite dependant so we’ll get through the Summer Six-Hundy first and then we’ll be looking in the mail.”
The heats of the Ladbrokes Summer Six-Hundy will be run at Gosford on Tuesday, January 23. The $25,000 final will be contested on Saturday, February 3.
