Fred Basset (greyhound)

Fred Basset is the name of a greyhound owned by Australian comedy duo Hamish & Andy. The name is taken from the comic strip character Fred Basset, whose strip features regularly on the "Hamish & Andy" radio show.

History

The Search for a Greyhound

Andy Lee was nominated for the Cleo Bachelor of the Year competition. Hamish Blake took $860 that was intended to pay for a holiday for himself and his girlfriend and bet it on Andy to win. He won over $12000. Hamish refers to the competition as a 'glamour quest' (a term coined by Hamish's grandmother on a hero message in support of Andy) .

They asked listeners for suggestions on what to do with the funds. A listener suggested that they continue the gambling (and hopefully the good luck and large winnings). After a few weeks, the pair found Ange the Dog Whisperer, a greyhound trainer who then came up with three possible Fred Bassets.

The third candidate was the clear favourite: sired by Awesome Assassin, his parents had won $103,000 between them (beating Greyhound #1's parents and Greyhound #2's by $30,000 and $47,000 respectively). On August 26 2006, Greyhound #3 became Fred Basset after receiving 77% of listeners' votes. In September 2006, Hamish & Andy purchased the greyhound for $9,000.

The People's Greyhound

Fred's journey has been a regular feature on Hamish and Andy's Melbourne-based afternoon drivetime radio show since Andy won Bachelor of the Year. Through every step of the journey, the boys have pushed the idea that Fred is "The People's Greyhound", purportedly since without the continued support of the listeners, Andy would never have won.

Fans of the show flocked to Fred Basset's first ever race in Melbourne on October 12, 2006. Unfortunately he placed dead last in Race 4 at Sandown Raceway (which was named The Hamish and Andy Stakes), but fans have remained supportive.

Celebrity Endorsement

Hamish & Andy were locked in a fierce competition to find a celebrity who could relate to dogs who would endorse Fred Basset. Hamish chose to pursue Paris Hilton, since she owns a 'tea cup' chihuahua.

Andy chose John Travolta for unknown reasons. After some disappointing phone calls to seemingly random American Scientology churches, followed up with a call to Qantas, Andy pulled into the lead with a representative from Football Federation Australia promising to find Travolta's details. After a few more days of dead ends, Hamish then received Kiefer Sutherland's mobile phone number but was unable to obtain his endorsement. Currently Mike Whitney officially endorses Fred.

Track Record

After his first spectacular loss, Fred had an equally spectacular win at Albion Park in Brisbane. Later on at Angle Park Raceway in Adelaide, Fred backed up his first win with yet another victory, beating arch-nemesis Nitrix in a very close finish.

Race 4 on November 11 at Cannington Raceway in Perth drew large crowds, however even with the support of Mike Whitney and hundreds of Fred Basset fanatics, he could not bring home a podium place and finished fourth.

On a special Good Friday Appeal race, Fred won against two other greyhounds. Hamish & Andy donated all of his winnings ($7000) to the 2007 Good Friday Appeal.

Fred Basset has at least 8 wins, 8 seconds and 10 thirds so far.

Fred the Psychic

Fred Bassett is said to love chicken McNuggets, and is sometimes referred to as "the McNugget loving champion". Hamish & Andy tried to use Fred's taste for McNuggets to predict the future. Before the two football grand finals of 2006 (NRL and AFL) were played, the boys performed two experiments. On one paper plate they wrote 'Broncos' and on another they wrote 'Storm' (these being the two teams who played in the NRL grand final) and placed one McNugget on each. Fred chose the 'Broncos' McNugget, and after that the Broncos went on to win the match. The boys then did the same thing for the AFL, with Fred successfully choosing the winning team once more.

Since these two key predictions, Fred also has successfully forecast that Mutto would be voted off Australian Idol, a 1 in 9 chance.

Sadly, after Fred's disappointing performance in his first race, it has been decided (by Fred himself in a spectacular final McNugget choice) that he would choose to race and give up the McNuggets rather than continue on his pathway of "psychic lazy dog". Fred will not be allowed any more McNuggets on a regular basis.

References

External links

* [http://fredbasset.grv.org.au/index.html Fred's official website]
* [http://austereo3.clients.squiz.net/fox/shows/hamishandandy/show_features/fred_basset Fred's page at Hamish & Andy's website]
* [http://austereo3.clients.squiz.net/fox/listen/listen_live A live stream of Fox FM]