Black dog, whelped 26 December 2019, (Fabregas – Sing The Song)

Owner – Gold Nugget Syndicate

Trainer - Robin Grubb (St.Leonards)

Robin Grubb was destined to be involved in greyhounds with his parents Robert “Bob” and Bev Grubb lovers of the sport for much of their life. They bred the mighty Where’s Pedro – Stylish Dotty litter in 2007, with nine siblings winning 150 races, including their own star Pedro Pronto, winner of a Show Cup, Bob Brown Consolation and a Launceston Cup second. Bob Grubb also bred and trained Sing The Song, a powerful 20-win bitch that not only broke Lilli Pilli Lad’s 15-year-old Devonport track record in 2014 but would become the dam of Rojo Diamond.

A closely-knit family, Robin and his brothers Peter and Jeffrey had worked for much of their working life in their father Bob’s panel beating business. As his father’s health waned Robin Grubb took the reins of the Grubb family’s greyhound operations, increasingly with assistance of daughter Katie and her husband Josh Wright.

Robin bred Sing The Song’s initial litter to Fernando Bale, which produced three fabulous chasers. Peco Can won 26 of her 37-start injury plagued career, which included a Breeders Classic, Young Star, Johnston Puppy and Laurels. She was also runner-up in Leeroy Rogue’s 2018 Hobart Thousand. Her sister Hello Rhonda, a 23-time winner, not only snared the 2019 Launceston Cup, but a State Sprint Final and Bob Brown Consolation. Their brother Hello Lenny was a St. Leger winner amid his 16 victories. Hello Nugget, was another wonderful chaser for Robin Grubb. His 34 wins at the highest level included feature wins in the St. Leger and Devonport Show Cup.

Hello Nugget’s sire was the great Victorian chaser Fabregas, and Robin followed that identical path when he put Sing the Song to that sire, which produced a litter of four in December 2019. Two bitches would win only a single race each. A highly promising pup called Rojo Nugget was cut down by injury at only start four. It’s brother Rojo (Ro from Robin, Jo from Josh) Diamond was to be a different story all together.

Rojo Diamond showed serious talent early on but elevated from good to very good quite quickly. By mid-career he was truly a great chaser and held his form to the very end. He was one big boy, weighing between 37 and 38.2 kilograms for all of his 92 starts which would yield 47 wins, 19 seconds and 8 thirds. A testament to his soundness and Robin Grubb’s training prowess, is that he raced in every calendar month bar one, between his June 2021 debut and his January 2025 finale.

 A versatile unit with early speed and strength to back it up, Rojo Diamond was most comfortable racing away from the rail, and despite some top performances at the Mowbray circle track, he was much more dominant on the big U-turn venues of Hobart and Devonport. 

We’ll break his career down track by track. Rojo Diamond raced only 8 times at Devonport for 5 victories, before the tragic decision for the entire industry was made to close that great track down. He won his Johston Puppy Championship Heat there before a Final 7^th but made a clean sweep of the 2021 Devonport Breeders Classic, culminating in his Final win over “champion to be” Wynburn Ruby. Had he been able to continue racing at the Coastal track, he may have approached the 60-win mark at career end.

His Launceston record of 20 starts for 8 wins, 5 seconds and 2 thirds was excellent considering the tighter track was not his ideal scenario. His earliest Mowbray success was a Breeders Heat win, and a distant 2^nd in the 2021 Gold Collar behind Wynburn Rebel.

Apart from graded wins, he was 2^nd to a great nemesis Nail ‘Em Fencer in a Country Derby Heat but atoned by beating Saint Zac in the 2022 Country Derby Final. He also won his Division 2 Nelson Cup Heat, before a third to Rip Away after leading in that Final. After winning his Heat, he ran a game 4^th in Wynburn Ruby’s 2023 Launceston Cup Final.

 

A year later he was third in the 2024 Cup Heat, before leading throughout to score in the 2024 Launceston Cup Consolation Final, when 49 months old. That was in fact his last start at Launceston. So, on clearly his least preferred track, Rojo Diamond still has a most enviable record.

On the wide-open spaces of Hobart, this great dog was undeniably one of the finest chasers we have seen in this State. Suiting speed chasers but at the same time a tough track with a long run home, it was built to order for Rojo Diamond.

His Hobart statistics are amazing. In 64 starts he posted a record 34 wins, 13 seconds and 6 thirds. After collecting 7 wins from his first twelve Elwick starts, Diamond’s initial southern success of note was the Silver Trophy in July 2022. Soon after he easily knocked over his 2022 Tasmanian Gold Cup Heat, which was his 20^th victory, but injury saw him scratched from that Final. Only a fortnight later, he fronted for his Devonport Chase Heat (run at Hobart) and despite an early scare, won it comfortably.

There were no such worries in the Group 3 Devonport Chase Final. From box 7, the big boy soon swooped on the lead and scored running away by nearly five lengths from Quest For More in a slick 25.78 seconds. The 2022 Group 1 Hobart Thousand followed soon after. Diamond qualified for the rich Final with a 2-length win over Raider’s Guide in 25.81. He was extremely brave in his Final 3^rd from box 6, behind the top Victorian Fernando Mick, having to work hard out wide in the run.

During 2023 and 2024, virtually every feature race at Hobart saw Rojo Diamond in the thick of the action. His great rival Nail ‘Em Fencer beat him into 2^nd place in the 2023 Ivory Classic. A week later he reversed that result in an Invitation, before blitzing Big Opal Rocks and Nail ‘Em Fencer by 4 lengths in the 2023 Easter Cup.

In June 2023 he overpowered track record holder Hit The Switch in the Ronald McDonald Charity Cup, in another slippery 25.79. His 33^rd win, and fifth in a row was his second successive Silver Trophy Best 8.

He ended 2023 in glorious fashion. He won his Heat for the second year running of the prestigious Gold Cup. This time injury did not prevent him running in the Final. In a crowd-pleasing battle, it took Rojo Diamond the entire 461 metres to overpower his mighty mate Nail ‘Em Fencer by just a ½ head to collect the 2023 Tasmanian Gold Cup. Diamond was now four years old as he attempted his second Group I Hobart Thousand. As in 2022, he brilliantly scored in his Heat, posting the fastest of the night and his personal best time of 25.58.

 Group 1 success was not to be, but in the closest finish ever witnessed of Tasmania’s greatest race, Diamond was only 1.4 lengths from the winner Crackerjack Bull in finishing 6^th. Rojo Diamond, always so well managed by Robin Grubb, only raced 21 times in 2024, and 19 were at Hobart.

On 2 January he set forth to be the only greyhound to win the Devonport Cup (Chase) back-to-back. He began on song, with an easy Heat victory over All Star Giblet. In the Final, Diamond jumped straight in front from box 7 and led for home but was run over late by the new champ on the block in Raider’s Guide. 

His 2024 Devonport Chase 2^nd, however, did see him join fellow Hall of Famer Stylish Doctor, as the only pair to both win and be runners up in successive Devonport Cups.

In April 2024 the Grand Masters, a new race for veterans, saw Rojo Diamond post his 40^th win in the Heat, and a week later topple his “best mate” Nail ‘Em Fencer by three lengths in the Final. This victory also gave him the mantle of most ever Hobart wins, taking over from Sultan’s Swing which held that honour for 13 years.

This was followed by a 3^rd to Supreme Leader in this second successive Ivory Classic Final, having first scored in his Heat. When attempting a trio of wins over three seasons, in the Silver Trophy he fell just short when 2^nd to the brilliant Got Attitude. At 56 months of age, he won the Rewind Tasbred Special Event over Supreme Leader, still posting a slick 25.86. Wins 46 and 47 came up in 340 metre Masters events at his beloved Hobart.

 

Two starts later, and at 5 years and 1 month of age, Rojo Diamond had his final of 92 race appearances. Competing in elite company right to the very end, he ran 5^th in a heat of his third Devonport Cup.

Very few greyhounds in Tasmania have surpassed his 47 victories, nor won or placed in more feature races on all three tracks, but especially Hobart. Rojo Diamond was voted Tasmanian Greyhound of the Year in 2022, and its testament to his trainer and this champ’s astonishing longevity, that he was one of the three finalists, for the same honour in both 2023 and 2024 also. With stake-money earnings of $246305 without having left Tasmania, Rojo Diamond now enters the Tasmanian Greyhound Hall of Fame.

View Rojo Diamond career record

By Brennan Ryan