We only have one runner in the William Hill Classic, Mileheight Alba, who will be trying to defend his title in what might be his last event for us. We have been offered a deal for him to go to stud in Ireland.
He is four years old and has been a great servant with the highlights of his career being the Sunderland win last year and going unbeaten through the Laurels. He hasn’t had the best of times recently. He was put on his back by Glenpadden Oak in his last race at Perry Barr. But he has trialled well – 27.19 two weeks in a row at Sunderland and he likes the track.
I will be taking an unraced pup called Camp Joker for the Sunderland puppy stake that is being staged at the same time.
He has trialled in 16.11 for the Perry Barr sprint, 17.85 for the Nottingham sprint and 28.01 for Sheffield’s 480 metres. He has also trialled twice at Sunderland doing 27.35 in his last trial.
He is our own breeding – a December ’13 pup by Blackstone Gene out of Rebellious Queen, who ran third in the Oaks, and obviously we think a lot of him. We also have his litter brother who is a bit rangier than Joker but trialled faster when they were schooled in Ireland.
We have also recently bought a half brother to Newinn Yolo, by Aero Majestic. Breeder Jim O’Donnell doesn’t school his pups, he puts them straight into the traps and sees what they do. Jim’s an honest man and a brilliant judge and that is enough for me. He had already told me that this one – Newinn Champ – was fast and so it proved. He actually went quicker in a sprint trial at Clonmel than Yolo did at the same stage.
We have bought so many of our better dogs through Jim, and always on trust.
We have also just bought a half brother to Swift Hoffman on Ian Greaves’ say-so, and have some June pups by Droopys Scolari out of Little Flame (the dam of Take The Crown) coming over. They were reared by Norrie Brennan, who has the ‘Blissful’ prefix and always does a great job.
Like all trainers, over the years, we’ve been caught out buying expensive dogs who flop. Perhaps the worst was a dog called Shadayid who cost an absolute fortune and actually did 27.32 (470) at Belle Vue. But he was probably the most inconsistent and frustrating dog I have ever trained.
In recent years, we have relied on well bred pups from top breeders. They haven’t always made it, and they get sold on, but all our best dogs have come to us that way.
If dogs like Newinn Yolo and Swift Hoffman had been exposed in races before we bought them, you could be talking about £30-40,000 greyhounds, and we simply couldn’t have afforded them.
We are hoping to trial Vatican Gurka and Ascot Woodie at Hove for the Sussex Cup but in the meantime I’m quite excited about a trial at Nottingham on Monday. Swift Hoffman is due to go back over four bends. He has trialled in 17.52 and 17.44 (TR 17.34) over the sprint and I can’t wait to see what time he does for the 500.
As for Yolo – he is the patient from hell.
He is so full of himself and so fed up at ‘box rest’ that he is proving a right handful. He looks amazing with his coat shining and he can’t work out why he isn’t racing.
Roll on a week Saturday when we can start walking him for the first time!
