EDITORS DIARY: SUNDAY

The first piece is not strictly greyhound related, but hopefully you will find it of interest.

 

If there is one virus that has multiplied way quicker than Coronavirus in the last three months, it is fake news.

The conditions are just perfect for it to spread. Fear, an unknown disease and people with too much time to surf the net. I have lost track of how many ‘secret insider’ emails and messages I have received from ‘experts in the know’ (hush hush).

All types of information that ‘they don’t want you to know’, about everything from cover-ups to cures.

As someone in the ‘information’ business, I would hope a nose for most of the information poo. But every so often, you hear something that might contain more than a shred of truth. (Either that or it is weapons grade bullshit for which I am totally out of my depth).

A few days ago I was watching a video of Sadhguru who was giving his views on Coronavirus. I had come across the Indian mystic previously, and think he is a charismatic and interesting listen.

This particular topic was entitled ‘Coronavirus doesn’t want to kill you.’ Here is the link. If you have a life, and would prefer a shorter summary than the 13 minutes of footage. . . the guru suggests that Covid-19 is basically killing people ‘by accident’.

The logic goes that it doesn’t serve the virus any long term benefit to kill the host. It will eventually weaken and continue to survive without killing humans, much as it has previously done in animals.

I thought it sounded credible, but thought I would run it past one of the wisest men I know.

During Nikolas Savva’s early life in Cyprus, he was taught many old wives tales and folklores. Some have subsequently been exposed as old tosh, others had merit. One I clearly remember was the kids, and animals being made to chew on raw garlic if they had developed worms. It worked brilliantly, apparently.

What did Nick think of Sadhguru’s suggestion?

“I think it makes great sense” he said. “The recent example was myxomatosis in rabbits. Originally all the rabbits died, but now most survive. It comes back but doesn’t kill”

At this point, I can hear plenty of you saying, ‘Absolute bull, that’s just the build up of natural immunity’

That certainly wasn’t lost on Nick. He went on to say that having originally vaccinated his pups for cough, he found a better solution. He let them get it and build natural immunity. But . . . although the cough repeatedly came back it had never mutated into anything life threatening for a normal healthy animal.

The guru pre-empts the ‘naturally immunity’ response by referring to the Mantous test, which is used for the detection of the bacteria which causes tuberculosis. According to Sadhguru, it is virtually impossible to find an Indian who can pass the Mantous test.

In other words, all one billion of them potentially have TB, but only the very weakest actually contract it.

Keep the host alive!

Okay, we are not dealing ‘like with like’. TB is a bacterial infection, Covid-19 is a virus. But is the guru onto something?

As I delve through the ocean of fake news, I am labelling this one ‘open mind’

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Re-airing the third chapter of ‘Savva’ this week reminded me of the incident leading to the photo showing the coastline with look-out posts along the beach in Cyprus.

Nick had long wanted to know if anything had happened to a piece of land he owned. It was absolute prime estate on the cliff top with its own private beach.

He had bought it with the proceeds of a lucrative deal when he still owned a clothing factory in London. If he had ever been able to cash it in, he would have become a millionaire overnight.

He remembered that it was between the ghost town Farmagusta and the sea and we set off from his apartment in Limasol to try to grab a view.

We were probably a mile away when we saw the first United Nations warning signs telling us not to enter the buffer zone between southern Cyprus and the northern part of the island, still controlled by Turkey.

We passed the first set of barriers on foot and headed closer and closer to the Turkish front line. The warnings were get more and more threatening about trespassers. I looked up and saw a Turkish guard in a look-out tower studying us through binoculars.

I already had a rough idea of how I wanted to die. I won’t go into detail, but it involved an indeterminate number of tanned Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders. The prospect of receiving a bullet between the eyes from a trigger happy Galatasaray fan, didn’t even make the short list.

“I think we should go back” said I in an usually high octave.

“Feckem!” suggested Nick.

(Which I assumed was a Greek expression for ‘good point well made’.)

But no! He kept going!!!!

Suddenly, a United Nations white jeep appeared over the horizon, driven by the biggest soldier I have ever seen in my life. He looked like he was driving a kid’s pedal car.

We were clearly all going to jail. The embarrassment. The shame.

“Now fellas, what are you up to?” boomed the big Dubliner.

He was greeted by a babble of gibberish, ‘Stolen land, Farmagusta, nice few quid from mini skirts, book, greyhounds. . .

“Oh the dogs is it” said yer man. “My uncle runs a few at Shelbourne Park”.

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Former Stow, Crayford, Monmore, Brough Park, Willenhall and Leeds racing manager Tony Smith is a great friend of this site. He has enjoyed reading our serialisation of ‘Savva’ and sent the following collection of memories:

“Chapter Three is providing fantastic reminders  of events in the SAVVA story. It really should be a film. I’m sure anyone reading it again, would recall some of those stories, and it certainly brings back some wonderful memories not just about Nick and Natalie but of others too. You might find some of them interesting as well.

“Stage Box (1974 TV Trophy winner) brings back a wonderful memory of Charlie Coyle.

Whilst I was RM at Willenhall in 1974, I was asked to do a relief at Crayford (the old peat track) as acting RM. I decided to visit Paddy Coughlan at his kennels in Lingfield on the Sunday.

I cocked-up and went to the wrong kennel, only to be greeted by the resident trainer Charlie Coyle.

He invited me to stay and have a look around his kennels (then owned by Sir Thomas Houston Boswell). To cut a long story short, we went to the pub, had a few drinks, came back, had a few more. What a great day.

He took me around the kennels later on that day, introduced me to one of my favourite dogs Pepper Joe, and then he showed me a red fawn bitch, and said “this bitch (Streaky Sheila) will win the TV Trophy. Nothing can beat her. The only thing that can possibly beat her is…she hates rain and doesn’t like the thunder.”

I remember being in Eddie Read’s pub in Bermondsey where we had all gathered to watch the 1974 TV Trophy final at Hall Green, and lo and behold, there was torrential rain and a thunderstorm at the meeting, and the rank outsider Stage Box wins for the Savvas.

 

The 1977 Trainers Championship was the first time I’d really met the Savvas at Brough Park. We wanted to make this the biggest occasion of the year after the Greyhound Derby. Newcastle was a bit far to come, but if we offered trainers some incentives perhaps they would come.

The initial idea for the Trainers Championship was the brainwave of Arthur Aldridge (who Ladbrokes had “kidnapped” from the GRA). We decided that it would be a good idea to build some kennels, so that the top 6 trainers could stay and travel up before the event.

So, that’s what we did. Hard to believe it, but true, and the trainers were informed that they could travel up from the Wednesday onwards, and all their greyhounds would be accommodated in the kennels, and also use the facilities of of the home kennels.

They, and their staff would be fed every day, given whatever they wanted. The sextet were Natalie Savva, Geoff De Mulder, Phil Rees, John Coleman, George Curtis, Pam Heasman (who virtually qualified courtesy of Westmead Champ).

They’d more or less all turned up and trialled and been fed, except for one Geoffrey De Mulder who promised faithfully he would arrive no later than Friday morning (the Trainers Championship was on the Saturday).

I informed Geoffrey that we were racing at Gosforth that night leaving with the trailer of dogs at 5pm, and under no circumstances was he to be later than that because I had to weigh the dogs in at Gosforth.

To cut another story short, at 5pm, I had to let the trailer go, and was absolutely furious. At 6pm Geoffrey’s wagon turns up, and I remember thinking, ‘right he’s getting a piece of my mind’.

His trailer parks some way away, He opens the back door. He comes towards me with a string a greyhounds in one hand, Foxy Copper, Autumn Belin, Picture Parade, Manderlay King etc.

He has a bag of dog biscuits in his other hand, gives them to me and says “Here Tone, give these to Ken Raggatt (one of local trainers), put a bit of back on his dogs”, and walks off. I stood there with the bag of biscuits, totally speechless, and laughed.

Another classic from Geoffrey was on the Wednesday when the draw was made, he rang up, and his only question was.. “What trap is Autumn Belin drawn?”

“Trap three Geoffrey”.

“Brilliant, that’s all I need to know”.

Autumn Belin duly won the top race. I asked Geoffrey that night did he think he could win the Derby.

“‘No’ was the reply, the youngster had been disqualified as a ‘baby’ at Perry Barr when Frank Baldwin trained him, and they didn’t want to see him again. Hence he went to Geoffrey but couldn’t run in the Derby because of the barmy rule the GRA had.

Anyway, when you look at the list of the great trainers involved that night, what an achievement for the Savvas to dead heat with Geoffrey. A great achievement.

I transferred the Trainers Championship when I went to Crayford for the following years, and another great quote from Geoffrey. When I asked if he had forgotten to include Desert Pilot for his team for Crayford, he laughed and said “…don’t be silly, he’s far too fast for Crayford. He’ll be going so fast at the first bend, he’ll finish up in the paddock.”

“This dog will win the Derby Tone“. I laughed a couple of months later, when we rushed down to the office to see the Greyhound Derby final. I knew that Geoffrey and his father Joe had backed Desert Pilot to win fortunes.

History shows that Geoffrey wins it with Sarahs Bunny, but one of the greatest quotes ever from Geoffrey at the interview.

The reporter asks something like….”What a brilliant performance. Is there anything you would like to say?”

“Yes” says Geoffrey…”Sorry Dad”.

 

One final piece from Tony, who after his long racing office and NGRC admin career, opted to become a London tour guide.

He speculated whether the Paddington church in which Nick and Natalie were married was St.James’ Church, was where Oscar Wilde had also got married half a century nearly a century earlier.

Tony adds: “As an aside, if you walk a bit further down the road from there, there is a Pet Cemetery (just inside Hyde Park). Back in 1880 the then Duchess Of Cambridge asked Queen Victoria for permission to bury her beloved dog in Hyde Park. Permission was granted and it started a tradition for burying small animals. It’s now closed.

“But I do recall on one of the headstones for a beloved dog was the affectionate inscription… ‘He was more faithful than my husband‘”.