Defending Coral Golden Sprint champion Goldies Hoddle has been retired after sustaining a hock injury in Friday night’s first round.
The Andy Pelley owned, Patrick Janssen trained, black finished fourth and although the injury was not necessarily ‘career ending’, connections determined not to attempt a return to the track. He will be four next month.
The son of Droopys Sydney and Silver Dollar (dam of Roxholme Nidge), Hoddle was bought as a pup by Patrick Janssens, and he and two litter brothers were snapped up by Pelley on a kennel visit while they were still playing in the paddock. Their racing names would be ‘Goldies’ Ginola, Hoddle and Klinsman (or by their kennel names ‘Dave’, ‘Del’ and ‘Albert’).
The trio would have returned a decent chunk of their purchase price when each won on debut at Central Park and all went on to win opens (along with sister Seaglass Shadow).
Although Ginola was arguably as fast as Hoddle, there were few on the open race circuit to match the 37 kilo colossus for his bravery and consistency.
Hoddle won the 2020 Cat 1 final in only his fifth time over course and distance, and finished a career with 30 open race wins from only 74 outings. He had lost three months of his career, immediately following his Sprint win, due to the first lock down.
His final career record showed 20 wins and 7 seconds from 33 races (61% win strike rate) over the London Road 400m course and he was voted the RPGTV Greyhound of the Year for 2020.
Owner Andy Pelley said: “It was a fantastic training performance by team Janssens, including Patrick, Cheryl, Ria, Luke, Ron Mills, and everyone who has handled him.
“Hoddle was a pleasure and privilege to own. Friday nights won’t be the same for me without Del Boy!”
Andy Pelley with a firm grasp on ‘Del Boy’ Photo: © Steve Nash
