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Bailey eyes Million Dollar Chase glory - and plans to share!
The Dogs • October 15th, 2025 1:53 pm
If third-fastest qualifier My Boy Bingo wins Friday night's Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, his owner-trainer Ken Bailey will present the dog's former owner, Braden Finn, with $100,000.
My Boy Bingo was a surprise $17 winner of an MDC qualifier at Wentworth Park on October 4 and was sent out at $21 when he upset pre-post final favourite Cumbria Jack in his all-the-way semi-final win.
But Ken Bailey was lucky to secure My Boy Bingo as he had wanted to buy the dog's litter sister, SWEET BEE.
"SWEET BEE and My Boy Bingo are descendants of Braden Finn's champion stayer Sweet It Is, who won two dozen races and over $934,000," Bailey explained.
"I approached Braden to buy SWEET BEE but he refused to sell because, being a female, he wanted to breed from her to maintain his Sweet It Is dam-line.
"Instead he offered to sell me her litter brother My Boy Bingo, even though he was already showing tremendous promise."
"My Boy Bingo had won his first four starts, at Hobart and Angle Park, so Braden knew how good he was.
"One day at Sale, my local track, I was trialling my top class sprinter Nangar Jim (a winner of 24 races and $211,000) and he clocked 24.20 for the 435m trip.
"Out came My Boy Bingo for the next trial, and he recorded a blistering 24.08.
"Then, when my bitch SELECT AIRLEY made the pace in the Launching Pad at Sandown in April, she was run down and beaten a nose by My Boy Bingo.
"So, although I had really wanted to buy SWEET BEE, after that sort of form, I was happy to take up Braden Finn's offer to sell me My Boy Bingo.
"In return, I agreed to give him 10 per cent of any prizemoney the dog won, and that will still apply if My Boy Bingo wins the Million Dollar Chase, so Braden stands to get $100,000."
While Ken Bailey was virtually unknown in NSW until My Boy Bingo upset Cumbria Jack in last Friday's Million Dollar Chase semi-final, he is a former secretary of the Sale Greyhound Club and for the past 33 years, has managed the popular Sporting Legends Club at Sale in Victoria's Gippsland region.
The Bailey name became famous in Victoria when Ken's father Barry, bred the mighty Temlee, who was inducted into the Victorian Greyhound Racing Hall of Fame in 2006.
Barry Bailey bred Temlee in 1972, selling him as a two-month-old puppy to owner Ray Hocken for $135.
Trained by Frank Cray, Temlee, a son of Tivoli Chief, won 25 of 37 races, including the 1974 National Sprint Championship, and was an immediate sensation at the stud.
His initial $300 stud fee rocketed to a then record $1000 per service in 1976, and Temlee won the Victorian Sires' Premiership every year from 1978 to 1982.
Ken Bailey explained: "I also own a 25 per cent share in the Jason Thompson-trained Tim Zoo, and when he won the 2024 Australian Cup, I was given the opportunity to take home the trophy," Ken Bailey said.
"I didn't want to take that, but when Tim Zoo also won the Group One Temlee I eagerly accepted when I was again offered the trophy, all because my father had bred that legendary greyhound."
Ken Bailey concedes he did not expect My Boy Bingo to clock a scorching 29.33 for the 520m in his Million Dollar Chase semi, but said: "I was confident if he made the pace, he could get down to 29.50.
"Last Friday I believed he could win if the favourite, Cumbria Jack, found trouble, and that's what happened."
And this Friday night? "My Boy Bingo has drawn okay in box three but I would have been a lot happier if he had box two.
"I think he would have had a much better chance if he had drawn inside fastest semi-finalist Eriza Sparkles (29.17) but she has box two and we have drawn three."
