FROM THE ARCHIVE: OWNERS ON TOUR – SWEDEN 2001

We don’t normally do requests, but Greyhound Ambassador Kim Sanzone has (forcibly) requested a reminder of a trip to Sweden taken by the National Greyhound Owners Club back in 2001.

The club was  a Greyhound Star concept but would never have got off the ground without the backing of the BGRB CEO Geoffrey Thomas. It was organised by Mark and Martina Sullivan.

It was a fantastic few days in which a group of UK owners and enthusiasts traveled to Sweden to see their take on greyhound racing. It was a unique occasion where many of us got to experience a truly breathtaking country for the first time and meet incredibly kind and welcoming people.

It brings particularly fond memories of the late Geoffrey Thomas whose kindness and good nature created the atmosphere of like minded people enjoying a shared experience in a great social setting. It is a shame that the concept never survived.

HE had only been in the country for around six hours but Nigel Woods was already singing in fluent Swedish – or so he thought . . .
It was the first night of the National Greyhound Owners Club trip to Sweden and a motley collection of Brit greyhound folk descended on the unsuspecting people of Boras.
The small Swedish town is around 30 miles inland of Gothenburg in the southern part of the country.
Spirits fell when BGRB boss Geoffrey Thomas – sporting a shirt straight from location on Hawaii Five O – announced that Boras (it should have the little circle thingies above the ‘a’) was not in his guide book.

We need not have worried. Far from being a one-reindeer town, it is actually quite an industrious little corner of Svenska, making its money from textiles.
After a quick wash and brush-up we were off to the local track which was celebrating its festival of racing, due to culminate in the Swedish Championships over the weekend.
Boras track is a recently upgraded facility financed by an off-course betting project.
There are three of these tote tracks located throughout the country: Boras, Akers Kanal in Stockholm and Landskrona.
I have to confess to feeling a certain discomfort at the whole scenario fearing that the Swedish authorities total capitulation to the welfare groups will prove a major difficulty in the long term.
None the less, it was impossible to criticise the genuine greyhound loving folk who so warmly welcomed us to the picturesque forest fringed track.

Although the facilities were more akin to Rye House than Walthamstow, the running circuit was a magnificent power sapping oval with a 49m radius bend and a 550 metre standard distance.
With the inside lure and traps set back in chutes, the Boras circuit is based on the best Australian tracks though even there, the standard distance is generally 30m less at around 520m.
The size of the track was another concession to the welfare group – biggest is safest.
There were ten races, five over the 320m sprint and five over the 550m.
The runners were around one third Irish imports, with most of the remainder born in Sweden from Irish bred parents or grandparents.
(I was surprised to discover that I had bred one of the winning sires myself – Bridge Model, daddy of the seventh race winner Dynamit Harry).
Each race was worth 1,000 Swedish krona (around £65) no matter what the class of the race – the grading is designed on the Australian model – the prize money was British.
My former Sporting Life colleague Mark Sullivan and I discovered that we both fancied the same dog in one of the races and ‘lumped on’ on the ‘nanny’.
Unfortunately our combined 400 krona (around £26) saw the odds fall from 7-1 to even money.
Jim Austin, the new editor in chief of 24-dogs, and would-be bookie, asked whether he would be able to lay a few bets.

Our hosts: Goran (left) and Susanna Largerquist with Nigel Woods

He was politely told “illegal bookmakers are not permitted”.
After the last race our hosts invited the club members to join in the karaoke – BIG mistake!
Not since Norway entered the Eurovision song contest with “hurdy flurdy I love my reindeer” (nil-pwa) has less musical talent been inflicted on the good people of Sweden.
As the Brit choir hit full voice, grown men began lopping off their ears, mice were diving onto traps, hedgehogs were throwing themselves under juggernauts.
Nigel Woods, a quiet figure who would only race his voice to order a bacon roll in the Henlow canteen, discovered an amazing feature of Swedish beer.
After a couple of pints you can even sing in Swedish.
Buoyed by their new found talent Nigel and Jim ‘went on the pull’ with two attractive unattached Swedish ladies.
A full report will be published should the blackmail ransom not be paid.

“Remember that song that everyone thought was the hokey-kokey” said Mark, the next morning “I think you’ll find it was some sort of Swedish anthem. People kept saluting it”
Oops!
The daylight shy group were late leaving the next morning. One of our number, who shall remain anonymous, had spent the last 20 minutes in a very small room talking to Jarvis Astaire on his mobile.
‘JA’ was clearly tracking the BGRB board on an enormous world map, previously owned by Blofelt.
We were doubtless satellite tracked as we arrived at the kennel of Goran and Susanna Lagerquist, fellow club members who had originally suggested the visit.

The Lagerquists, who some of us already knew from an Irish Derby trip have a smart range of kennels for 10 dogs set back from their home.

Goran and Susanna Largerquist’s kennel range

BGRB boss is up for skinny dipping

Each kennel has all-day access to an outside paddock via a trap door.
More unusual were the sleeping arrangements being a type of bunk-bed arrangement with the top bunk being around three feet higher than the lower bunk with access by a gentle slope.
Given the extremes of the Swedish weather, the wooden building was superbly isolated in the same style as the houses.
With a ceiling fan rotating gently the kennels were probably 20 degrees lower than the low 90s of the warm summer’s day. In the minus 20 winters, the dogs remain snug.
With no racing scheduled, the plan was to use the day to see a little more of the country.
The sightseeing trips always prove popular as we found on visits to Dublin and Amsterdam.
They also provide a non-doggie backdrop to get to know the rest of the party.
Sweden’s biggest tourist attraction, a magnificent theme park in Gothenburg was the day’s highlight.
First though, the BGRB Chief Executive and all round thrill seeker Geoffrey Thomas was determined to swim in a Swedish lake.

It has to be said that most of the group lacked the bottle to strip off and dive in. Not GT, who spends his holidays climbing the Himalayas, and eating dead goat over a fire made of yak poo.
After swimming with the fishes for five minutes GT got out and sought a volunteer to hold his towel while he slipped into something drier. The queue was not a long one.
Last person to dash back to the bus was assigned the job.
A strict code of honour prevents disclosure over who was volunteered though she did mutter something about having caught sight of a tiddler.
The amusement park was an eye-opener in more ways than one. The rides were as good as any we’d seen in Britain.
As for the people – no wonder the Swedes are noted for their looks. It was wall to wall beautiful people.

“I’m in love” sighed Nigel Woods after about the first minute and a half. Not being the fickle sort he fell for about another 30-40 blonde blue eyed suntanned beauties in the next three hours.
The group split up to tour the park. I made the mistake of being in the same group as ‘GT’ and Corals PR boss Kim Sanzone.
Kim was on the trip as the BGRB link to the Club and with Romford and Hove having having arguably the two best owners associations in the business, she was an inspired choice.
She was also in Sweden to finalise details on a major new international race planned for 2002.
Our theme park group also included club organiser Martina Sullivan and ‘Jimbo’ Austin.
Within three minutes Martina, Jimbo and yours truly had come to two conclusions.
One – Ms Sanzone is a total adrenaline junkie who was probably conceived on a Blackpool roller coaster.
Two – the BGRB Chief Exec. is at least two offers short of a six-pack.
While the three ‘wooses’ looked for interesting, mildly stimulating rides that didn’t too greatly test Newton’s gravity theory, ‘the blonde bird’ and Psycho Thomas were making Evil Kenevil look like a pansy.
On the roller coaster they demanded the back carriage which gives an extra kick. Hands in the air.

On the ride that shoots you (minus your innards) 200 feet in a couple of seconds, Psycho was begging to try it upside down and dangling by his laces.
“I wonder if these things are supposed to swing from side to side” he enquired as he stood swaying in the top car on the big wheel.”
If only his bloody phone would ring we could probably persuade him to climb into a different car to take it.
Where is Jarvis when you need him?
The day ended (no casualaties) with a dinner at the track where the Owners Club were the guests of honour.
Live music and dancing followed and the reputation of the Swedes as being a little reserved was soon shattered.
Among the locals was Lancashire lad Ian Humphrey who has lived in Tystberga for many years.
Ian races a few dogs and among other things sells Portamags. Ironically, he discovered greyhound racing in Sweden.
I caught up with him arguing in Swedish with one of the locals.
Suddenly the Swedish guy threw his arms in the air, muttered some sort of curse, and stormed off.
“He can’t help himself” confided Ian reverting back to his native accent “. . he is from the north of Sweden”
????
“Not enough oxygen”
Right

At some time around 1.00am there was a human race on the track.
There were probably about 20 entrants who all paid to race with the winner collecting somewhere in the region of £100.
It was to be the only ‘hookey’ race of our visit.
Two enterprising young lads decided to run as a team. One ran like stink, the other grabbed a shirtful of the biggest danger.
The fisticuffs after the race reminded me of old times at Aldershot when somebody thought their market had been taken.

Geoffrey Thomas being interviewed for Swedish TV.

Saturday was finals day and after a pleasant morning spent outside one of the Boras bars, we headed off to the track.
The Swedish TV company were already on site and were keen to interview Geoffrey Thomas.
The interviewers were only interested in one subject – welfare.
The BGRB Chief Exec gave his usual polished performance on TV and I realised why he did his job and I did mine.
I’d have just loved to answer a welfare question with “and since we are discussing welfare, what do you do with all your trotting horses when they are too old to race”
Overseeing the whole meeting was Lennart Nilsson of Svenska Spel – the company who operate the off-track betting operation and pretty much control racing’s purse strings.

Lennart Nilsson (left) and the Star’s Swedish correspondent Torsten Johannson

The off-course gambling takes place in betting shops and is shown on late night TV. On weekdays the imported pictures are from Britain.
At weekends, the racing comes from one of the three Swedish tracks – though only southernmost Landskrona race through the winter.
On Saturday, racegoers have an option to ‘pick eight’ winners with consolation pools for seven and six winners – or ‘pick three’ – the last
three races on the card.
Lennart’s job is to facilitate the needs of his company with those of the greyhound owners.
His requirements include dictating the type of races to be screened, the quality of field, and then liaising with the TV company to provide an attractive product.
An impressive operator, Lennart has a good greyhound knowledge from around the world.
He was totally clued up on the forthcoming Irish Derby and hinted that he would like to see Irish racing as part of future plans for Swedish viewers.
In the two years to date, Svenska Spel has shelled out around £1.7m to greyhound racing.

Last summer off-course turnover was around £750,000 per week though during the winter that figure plummeted as horse racing spent a huge budget on trying to win back the new greyhound punters.
But both remain firmly in the shade of harness racing.
At present, greyhound betting turns over around £350-£400,000 per week.
Lennart confirmed that Svenska Spel remains committed to greyhounds though he is keen to see more competitive racing.
What he didn’t say, though most others fear, is that Swedish racing is considerably more expensive for the company to promote compared to importing the pictures from countries like Britain.

As a result, it remains to be seen whether they can maintain current prize money levels.
Racing got underway in front of a crowd officially numbered at 1,500 though that did seem an optimistic figure.
But it was a flying start when Fat Tomba won the Sprint Cup Final in a new track record of 18.33 for the 320m.
Interestingly, the winner is from a frozen insemination mating by Toms The Best out of Westmead Disc.
(I had seen Thomas Mika’s bitch win in the European Championships – and two weeks after Tomba’s win, more members of the litter would make a big impression in this year’s European finals)

The day’s big final for bitches, worth around £1,000 to the winner was won by Avalon – one of five daughters of Mustang Ojay (Slaneyside Hare-Ice Baby) in the final.
The dam was Swedish Way (Droopys Fintan-Certain Way) – bred by Malcolm and Julie Sharp of Ireland’s Greyhound Weekly fame.
Before the ‘big one’, there was a race of special interest to Milton Keynes owners Peter and Jean Blott.
One of their former runners, Mineola Panther was running in a grade 2 event.
Although he didn’t win, just seeing their old dog made the trip worthwhile for the Blotts.
The big race was the final of the Swedish Champion-ships (worth £1,500 to the winner) and it featured two Australian dogs Bluff Prince and Marungi Storm who were trained by Ricky Moncrieff from Victoria.
Narrowly fastest on the clock though is arguably the best greyhound in Sweden – the Kildare bred Swedish Puppy Derby winner Mr Poolman (Polnoon Chief-Much Too Clever).
And in easily the most competitive race of the week, the crowd were treated to a thrilling finish.
Marungi Storm (Big Ginger Boy-Idol Storm) and Kovo (Judgement Call-Cool Hand Lucy) dictated early on without ever clearing the pack.But there is no hiding place on the big galloping track and in a tight three-way finish Mr Poolman just got up from Marungi Storm with fellow Aussie Bluff Prince (Malawi’s Prince-Ebony Park Lass) in third.
The field was completed by Mustang Prima (Ps Raisin Cain-Mustang Fairy) and Eddie Nikita (Spiral Nikita-Serene Dream).
The winner is owned by Lotta and Maggie Blomqvist and Britt-Marie and Jan Kristensson.
As racing drew to a close many of the crowd made their way to the canteen where the meeting was broadcast on TV. Although only 20 minutes long, it was very impressive.
The two presenters gave a very slick performance as they briefly introduced each race and then ran straight into the racing.
It reminded me very much of a shortened Match of the Day – some comment, very little filler and then the action with ‘slow-mo’ replay.
In truth, it made the racing look far more competitive than it actually was.
But then with 750 greyhounds (less than the combined strengths of Walthamstow and Romford) and spread over 2,000 miles -staging 10 competitive races on such a big track would never be easy.
On the day, total offcourse turnover was 1.1 million Swedish krona – around £75,000.

A group of ‘clubbers’ on finals day (l-r) Jean Blott, Mark Sullivan, Martina Sullivan (hiding), Kim Sanzone, Geoffrey Thomas, Nigel Woods and Peter Blott

The meeting over, the party headed back to the hotel and then into town for an end of tour dinner.
It was a terrific get-together.
Complete strangers from three days earlier were cracking jokes and comparing thoughts on the trip.
As we prepared to fly back the next day, I asked two Club newcomers Jim Austin and Kim Sanzone on their thoughts.
Jim said: “I’ve had a brilliant time.
“To be honest, I was never quite sure what the club was about until this weekend.

THANKFULLY Greyhound Star is not currently available on audio CD. Jimbo Austin (left) and ‘Psycho’ Thomas giving it large on the karaoke

“I thought it was some type of NAGO organisation, very political, and that sort of thing doesn’t really interest me.
“But it has been a bloody good laugh and I’ve enjoyed every minute.”
Kim Sanzone said: “I did have big misgivings about coming because I wasn’t sure it was my kind of thing.
“But it has been great fun. I’ve met people I didn’t know and got to know some of the others a lot better.
“I can’t help but think how many owners we have at Romford and Hove who would have enjoyed this kind of trip. I’d certainly like to do it again”
Club organiser Martina Sullivan said: “It has taken a while but the trips have now taken off.
“The Irish Derby trip is fully booked as usual.
“After that it will be Clonmel in the new year.
“We’d like to visit Sweden again, though maybe to Stockholm next time and perhaps later in the year, a trip to Florida.”