Joe Conneely sat down to talk to one of the top young trainers in the country

To hear the interview in full, click on this link.

Tom Heilbron Quick Facts

  • Date licence was granted – 01/12/14
  • 1st runner – Little Sheik
  • 1st winner – Little Sheik
  • 1st Open Race winner – Little Sheik
  • 100th open race winner in 2024 – Toddys Thunder
  • Favourite Track – Monmore (an honourable mention to Newcastle)
  • Win that means the most – Links Maverick (Pall Mall)
  • Race he would most like to win – All England Cup

Tom Heilbron with his sons after winning his first Category One

More than 100 open race winners in a year for the first time is a great achievement. To do it before the end of July ramps it up to the next level. Heilbron is “over the moon. It’s been a fantastic year, hitting the 100 so early, it was the target for the whole year!”

In less than a decade Heilbron has gone from a trainer “with a couple of dogs in my back garden to the facility we have now.” Link Kennel houses some of the top greyhounds in the country but also a trainer who is hungry for further success.

Finding the right greyhounds

Tom Heilbron’s first Category One winner Pacemaker Ted after the Northern Flat

Having the right ammunition is key for any trainer. As Heilbron puts it “without the bullets you can’t fire them.” His owners purchase the dogs and Heilbron will fire them at the best targets possible. It’s about having good, trustworthy contacts to turn to.

When it comes to sourcing the dogs it’s “a lot of trial and error. Sometimes we get dogs and they take quite a while to come to hand.” Freedom Epic was one of those. He took 10 starts for Heilbron before he got his head in front in an A2. It took a further three months to win an open but then the floodgates opened. A Steel City Cup and Northern Flat finalist, once Heilbron found the key to him, he took off.

One that Heilbron likes for the future is Untold Ruffiya. A January 23 son of Droopys Sydney, he is out of Queen Lucy and has made a promising start to his trials at Newcastle. “He did 16.83 1st look at Newcastle, and backed it up with a 16.91. He looks exciting, could be a real nice pup, he’d be Romford (Puppy Cup) bound I’d say.”

The building of a team

Having the right people around makes any task easier. Heilbron is quick to thank those who have helped from the very start.

“I couldn’t do it without them. In my opinion, I have the best staff in the world, in there day in and day out pulling for me every day. A massive amount of thanks has to go to them for the progress that we’ve made over the years. If we keep the support (of the owners) that we’ve got now for the next few years, we’ll carry on doing well.”

Having a great team around was a massive help when Storm Arwen hit. “It was the closest I’ve ever been to quitting” Heilbron admits but “with the help from the locals, we had the dogs back in the kennels in three weeks.”

It was something that saw the entire greyhound racing community rally around to lend support and help the kennels come back better than ever before.

Changes the industry needs to make

Freedom Whiskey – Tom Heilbron’s first track record breaker

Making changes to any sport is required for longevity. If Heilbron was hypothetically put in charge there would be three main changes that he would make that would be hard for most to argue with. Four if an endless money pot could be found to “up the prize money so that trainers can make a living properly.”

“I’d make a major play on advertising. I think it should be so much better than it is. If it’s marketed properly there will be a lot more people wanting to sponsor dog racing than there are now.”

“Should be a massive play on making owners feel special, they are taken for granted these days. If you go horse racing you get a free meal but if you go to the dogs…” It would not take much for tracks to put in the effort, all Heilbron suggests is a “separate little room, a separate area to give owners a cup of tea and a programme. The experience of being an owner needs to be better.”

Finally “Less racing, there’s too much racing at the moment.”

What does the future hold?

Tom Heilbron’s gallop

Link Kennels are currently third in the trainer’s championship. Heilbron is “over the moon” with their position. “We set a target every year and I try to make it harder. This year the target was top 10 but in the back of our heads we’d love to finish in the top six and make the trainers’ championship.”

“I want to be the best at it, I just want to keep progressing, you’ve got to want to compete with them (Mark Wallis and Rab McNair.) It doesn’t appeal to tick over. I think if you don ‘t set your stall out to do that, you’re doing something wrong. Nobody is in this game to get beat, you want to win.”

“We need to win a couple more category ones, I think we have the team to do it. We want to keep having fun with it. I don’t want to get to the point where it isn’t fun anymore. We’re riding a wave and I want to keep riding it.”

Congratulations to Tom Heilbron on his success this year.