When Swift Loki was disqualified for fighting in A4 at Yarmouth – the first race of his career – back in January 2019, the suggestion that there was a Cat 1 victory in him would have seemed too ridiculous to imagine.
But this is how he did it, from trap four, in the final of the RPGTV Champion Hurdle from Central Park.
Greyhounds embark on hurdle careers for a variety of reasons. To extend a racing career. To give a naturally gifted jumper a chance to rise in class. Or quite often, he provide a second chance for a dog who is either ungenuine or aggressive.
Swift Loki fits into the latter category. After being disqualified on debut for Irene Barnard, Loki was schooled over the jumps by the hugely experience Barry O’Sullivan. The brindle was not a natural. In his first hurdle solo at Central Park, he clocked 33.11 (-30).
The Ian Greaves bred runner was switched back to the flat and ran a number of races in A1 but was far convincing with a string of “challenging” comments in photo finishes. With ‘the inevitable’ possibly only one race away, O’Sullivan persevered with the jumps and Loki eventually won a hurdle sprint open.
But connections weren’t convinced and the brindle was eventually advertised on the internet for £1,000 and snapped up by trainer James Turner on behalf of himself and Patrick Rugg (a name from the archives. . .Night Trooper?) – the Hazard Syndicate.
The change of kennel seems to have sharpened Loki’s interest and last October, Loki produced the performance of his career to date, a 23.20 win over the Crayford 380m hurdle course. He was sent to Ireland for the Irish Grand National where he ran third but on return still never really ran consistently.
But things were about to get worse. Contesting the Ramsbottom Hurdle on the Golden Jacket Final card Loki came off heavily lame.
James said: “He had a bad wrist injury but when he was x-rayed by vet Martin Bennett, we wouldn’t find anything. My physio Kevin Lewis also checked him over and we couldn’t work out what the problem was. Deep down, I thought it was probably all over, and then lock down happened.
“Not only has Loki come back sound, but he seems to be a far more consistent hurdler. He has never been a fighter. There was one race at Crayford where he, and about four others, might have been marked ‘awkward’. But really it seems to be more of a case of ‘when he is in the mood’.”
Thankfully Loki was in the mood on Sunday night in a race that mattered more to James than he let on in front of the RPGTV cameras.
He said: “I didn’t want to say anything on the night, but lock down was a very tough time. We lost my mum, Ann Brandon, to cancer in April aged 57. She was an integral part of everything we have done in the kennel; without her it couldn’t have happened. It was an emotional time and she was very much in my thoughts last night.”
SWIFT LOKI winning heat 2 of the RPGTV Champion Hurdle Central Park Sunday 19th July 2020 Photo: © Steve Nash
