There is an old adage in racing that goes along the lines, ‘those that know the least have the most to say’
Brendan with Thurles Yard (left) and Kojac
So it perhaps says something interesting about the most successful track/coursing family of the last half century, that they remain so enigmatic.
Brendan Matthews came to the fore on the track in the early 1970s with the likes of Irish National Sprint winner Thurles Yard, Islandbridge Sprint winner Kojac, the prolific Jerpoint Paris and Townview Man.
Their trackers have become more scarce in recent years, but the quality is always maintained: Innocent Times, Boylesports Hero, Cable Bay, Towcester Story, and more recently Unlock Unlock to name but five.
As for the coursers, well the sheer scale of the successes are reflected in the paragraphs below.
Despite all their successes though, the Matthews family from Newry remain inscrutable to the majority of greyhound folk. Always polite and approachable, their reputation is for keeping their own counsel and passing quietly under the radar.
So it is particularly gratifying to hear Brendan open up about a truly remarkable career on both track and field.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed reporting on such an incredible family
Mark Pierrepont
Brendan, you’ve had great success on many of the coursing fields around Ireland, most notably at Powerstown Park. Away from there though, which would be your favourite fields ?
To me all the coursing fields are great places and the people that run them deserve huge credit for the efforts they put in. If I were forced to name two that hold a special place in my heart though, I’d say Carlow and Masonbrook Meadows. The fact that I have been lucky enough to win the Connaught Cup (Masonbrook) on numerous occasions, is obviously also a factor.
If you could give just one piece of advice in regards the training of a coursing greyhound what would it be ?
They need freedom first and foremost. Without freedom you’re wasting your time. Coursing dogs need space to gallop and learn how to use themselves and how to stretch out properly. If you have dogs from a young age in paddocks that aren’t big enough then the dog will adapt and will become used to putting in short strides.
If you want your dog to be the best, you need your dog to be striding to its full capabilities. That starts from when they are first born. You really must give them that from very early on.
Feed is very important too. You only get out what you put in. It comes before they’re even born really. You can give a dog the freedom and you can feed it on the best but if that dog hasn’t got the pedigree then you’ll not turn a slow dog into a fast one no matter what you do.
Who would go down as the unluckiest greyhound you ever trained ?
I don’t have to think about that for even a second, the dog in question would be Bar Time (Hilltown x Ebony Bride April ’99).
A stunning white and black dog who had all the ability in the world but time and time again came across bad luck at just the wrong time.
He constantly had injury problems which prevented him winning what his ability deserved though he did finish runner up in some big cups including when finishing runner up to our own Multibet (Newry Hill x Drummcooley Dame Jun ’99) in the Champion Stakes of 2002 at Clonmel.
Bar Time was a dog that had it all but also unfortunately had bad luck on his side. I’d have to give Good Judge (Court House x July Bride Jan ’05) a mention here as well, another lovely looking dog, a white and brindle.
Alas, he too suffered with bad luck and could never reach the heights that we might have hoped for.
Glen Matthews with Newry Hill – photo Imelda Grauer
Brendan you’ve trained countless greyhounds that the majority of people could only ever dream of handling. Who would go down as being the best dog and bitch you have handled?
I’ve had some great dogs and bitches through my hands but I’d have to say Newry Hill. An exceptionally talented greyhound on the field who also went on to sire great offspring.
Newry Hill wasn’t bred for coursing, in fact many of the diehard coursing people were a little sceptical about whether he’d have what it took to be a success on the coursing fields.
In fact when he won the Derby at Clonmel you could hear the comments after each course. ‘He’ll be spent after the second run’, ‘he’ll be spent after the third no doubt’. He proved all the doubters wrong though and when he run away with the final course with ease.
I believe he created a change of thought that had long been in existence. Track bred dogs could not just compete on the field, they could create history. I believe Newry Hill was the first greyhound to take a DNA test.
People just didn’t believe at that time that he could possibly be the progeny of track breeding. I paid for the test myself to prove it. He was the start of the legacy really and though his son Hilltown was a great dog, Newry edges it as my best ever simply because he was the start of something special.
As for the fastest bitch I’ve trained, I’m extremely lucky to have handled two of the last three Horse & Jockey Oaks winners at Clonmel; winning it this year with Foxhollow Queen and in 2018 we won it with her half sister Foxhollow Lady.
She is owned by myself and Nora Raleigh from Adare and bred by John Flynn out of his own 2014 Oaks winning bitch Somelittlething. This goes back to what I was saying earlier about pedigrees, champions breed champions.
If you were to ask me about pure pace though, I’d say Gadget Girl (Razor Ashmore-Tango Time Jan ’09). Believe me, this girl was an absolute aeroplane. I’ve never seen pace like it in a bitch before or since.
This is no disrespect to any other bitch I’ve trained, I’ve been hugely fortunate to train some of the best ever. This girl though, her pace would frighten you.
She won an Oaks trial stake at Castleisland and was ante post favourite for the big one at Clonmel. Injuries at the wrong time throughout her career prevented her from winning a real big one but she’s gone onto be a top class mother of numerous big race winners including the likes of Irish Cup Winner Needham Work and Needham Marie who won the Champion Bitch Stake.
Brendan would there be a dog and a bitch from another kennel who you respected over the years ?
Fortunately I can look back and enjoy what I’ve had in my life and I’ve certainly never had any regrets about anything. There was a bitch I really enjoyed watching though called Rossa Rose.
My best friend in coursing was a gentleman by the name of Colm McGrath. At the time Colm had asked me to keep an eye out for a good class bitch for him to train. Rose took my eye and I recommended her to him and the deal was done with the O’Donovan family who bred and trained her at the time.
Rose turned out to be a bitch of the very highest quality and went on to win the Oaks at Clonmel for Colm and Mary, I couldn’t have been anymore pleased for him.
Sadly Colm passed away last year, he’ll be very sadly missed. As for a dog from another kennel, not really. There have been countless that I’ve enjoyed watching over the years but non that would stand out in the way that Rose does to me.
What would be the highlight of your career in greyhounds? You’ve had so many moments in the sport but which would be the stand out?
It would have to be winning the Derby at Clonmel in 1985 with Townbrook Bimbo.
I’d bought Bimbo from Tom O’Dwyer in Cashel. Bimbo first came to my attention when finishing runner up to a good dog of mine in a stake a few months earlier. I’d expected my dog to win a lot easier than he did but in the end Bimbo ran him to a hard length.
I thought it was a terrific performance from the dog who was just a novice pup at the time. I did the deal with Tom who told me he was unconcerned about selling as he had at least a couple better still at home.
Heading to Clonmel, Tom good as his word, turned up with a dog that was made ante post favourite.
We fancied Bimbo though and we’d headed down from Newry with plenty to put on him. It was all about the price now and this is where a bookmaker friend of mine come in, Billy Wallace from Strabane. Billy was an integral part of the team.
He was a good friend of mine and people knew this, so when Billy started pushing the price out on Bimbo from 16/1 to 25/1 the others gradually followed. If Billy was wanting to get this dog in the book then he mustn’t be any good, or so they believed anyway.
Once he hit 25/1 it was like a military operation, the team went in and took the lot all the way down. Before a course was run on the day Bimbo was into 5/1 favourite. The work had been done with the dog and the money was down. Bimbo went on to win the Derby, it was the moment that changed my life both from a sporting perspective and from a financial perspective.
We’d drawn so much money from the bookmakers that without a word of a lie it all had to be packed into bin bags. We headed back in the van that night to Newry. Don’t forget this was in the days before motorways, it was a 4 1/2 drive back, the kids were starving having not ate for hours but we couldn’t afford to stop. We had so much money on board we just had to keep driving. We’d rung ahead to the bank manager in Newry and arranged to have him meet us at the bank at 8pm and to bring a couple of the girls to help count up. I paid them £50 each which in those days they were delighted with as it was a couple of weeks wages.
It was some day, it changed the course of my life there is no doubt about that.
Brendan what would be the biggest differences in training coursing greyhounds compared to track greyhounds ?
There’s a huge difference. I have a saying when it comes to coursing greyhounds. It’s the three P’s, Patience, Persistence and Precision. Remember those three things when it comes to the training of coursing dogs and you won’t go far wrong. I’d also say you’ll never train a champion laying in your bed or stood at the bar telling stories.
The amount of legends you’ll meet stood at a bar with a pint in their hands is unbelievable. You’ll find the doers up early though, working away. It is the only way to succeed.
A track dog would be different, once you’ve got a track dog fit he’ll take very little keeping that way between races. Most of his work should be done on the track. The fresher the better in most cases. I’m going a little off track here but this is a story I always remember fondly.
I was stood with Geoff De Mulder at White City on English Derby semi final night in June 1979. His bitch Sarahs Bunny had just won her semi final well and Harry Carpenter of the BBC interviewed Geoff. I was stood just to the side of him so could hear every word spoken. “What will you be doing with Sarahs Bunny this week then Geoff” asked Harry. With a straight face he replied “I’ll be giving her a 600 yard gallop each day up until Friday” he said. After Harry had gone I said to Geoff what did you say that for?
“If just one of the other trainers in the final are daft enough to do the same it’ll be one less dog to beat won’t it Brendan”.
I laugh about that to this very day. They were great days for the sport, if my memory serves me right there were 47,000 in attendance at White City that year for the final.
Of all your Clonmel Derby winners which were you most confident about heading to the meeting ?
Without wanting to sound big headed I’d have been confident about them all. If you’re not confident heading to Clonmel then leave the dog in the kennel as he or she aren’t ready. You’ve got to be confident heading there so the answer is I was confident about them all.
Brendan why was Lady Tico not bred to a coursing dog after producing the great Newry Hill in the first litter ?
Quite simply the sale price of coursing dogs couldn’t match that of track dogs. I could get maybe £10 – £15k for a good dog with track breeding but would have no chance of reaching that for a coursing bred dog. People forget I was heavily involved in the track side of the game before coursing.
In those days I suppose my hunting grounds were Shelbourne Park and Dunmore. We didn’t really have a great deal of people that could drive us about to the coursing meetings and that side of things come later on in the main.
Brendan I’ve been asked to ask you about the Major Light story ?
It started at Hackney Wick at the sales. If I remember right it would have been about 1975. Anyway I watched this dog run around Hackney Wick over four bends and he showed real good pace as far as the third bend but then blew up badly coming home. I looked at him coming off and this dog had no back on him at all, he wasn’t in great condition. I took a chance on him and the hammer was put down at 160 guineas.
“After I’d bought him Peter Arthurs approached me and said “Brendan you realise I’ve brought that dog over with me”.
‘Yes Peter I do is there a problem with me buying him?’ I replied.
“Not at all, just warning you though”.
It turned out that Major Light was blind in one eye. Certainly not ideal but the deal was done and I was happy enough with the purchase as blind in one eye or not the dog had ability.
I think it must have been six weeks later he ended up in trap one at Dunmore, I fancied him strongly that night and was having £4000 on. Some bet in those days.
Now there were bookmakers all the way around Dunmore, 60 plus at the height of the sport. Some of them had Major Light in at bigger odds but by the time you’d gone around all of them from last to first word spreads and you ended up being on at short odds overall anyway.
I would often bet there with a bookmaker by the name of Robert McCoubery. Now Robert was a proper punter. He had an opinion and he would stand it to good money. You might take under the odds of what you were on other boards but if you wanted a fair and uncomplicated bet then you’d be on.
I had £4000 at 7/4 that night with him, I guess the 160 guineas purchase price had been recouped. Major then went on to win a coursing stake over at Ballymore in December. It was a dark day, which wasn’t ideal as the dog was blind in one eye.
The day was getting on and by the time of the final it was 4pm and getting darker by the minute, concerning giving his sight, he won though and in the process won the first £2,000 coursing cup staged in Ireland. A cheap dog at the end of the day and he became known as ‘The One Eyed Wonder’.
Brendan what can we do to ensure that sport with our greyhounds on both the coursing and track side has a healthy future ?
We can have a healthy future but we must all work together. Every sector of the sport must pull in the same direction if we are to succeed. It’s no use if anybody isn’t pulling their weight.
Together we can succeed but that means everybody, owners, trainers, track owners and promoters and even the feed companies that rely on our support pulling in the same way. If one cog of the wheel doesn’t do their bit then we have no chance.
We’ve a great sport though. We’ve got wonderful animals who are a pleasure to keep, to own and to watch doing what they were born to do. We need to sell this experience to the wider public and to be proud of our heritage.
If I’m honest now, there are people heading our sport who wouldn’t know one end of a dog from another. To some of them they’ll lose no sleep if our sport is gone in 5 or 10 years time.
I’d like to see some of these people, some of them talk a great game, put them in charge of a kennel of greyhounds for a month and let’s see if the tune they’re whistling is the same at the end of it.
Brendan your ability to successfully land a gamble is legendary. What would be the biggest mistake people make when it comes to landing a successful punt against the bookmakers ?
The single biggest mistake that anybody makes in this respect is quite simple. Not having enough on!
If you’ve done your work with the dog and the dog is right, you need to make it pay. Never make it easy for the bookmakers. You’ve worked hard for this opportunity, take it with both hands and make them pay.
I had a young pup once running in the first round of the National Sprint. Now Jim Flood, a huge punter who could get on in huge figures, was putting on for me,
“What’s the last price you’ll take Brendan” he said.
I told him point blank, punt the dog until there’s no chalk left on the board. Take it all and then keep taking it until there is no more left”. The dog won by ten after giving them a start and a beating.
When you’ve got the dog right, you can’t afford to not have it all on. I hear people saying that they can’t afford to have it on, trust me over your life when you’ve got your dog ready, you can’t afford not to have it on.
What I would say though and something I’ve experienced throughout my time in greyhounds, as a gambler, be prepared to be treated by the authorities like a leper
There’s only one side of the punter bookmaker divide that’s supposed to come out on top and it’s not the man with a lead in his hand.
Brendan I want to ask you about Razor Ashmore ?
Now that’s a story that could fill it’s own book. A story I’d like to tell in depth. Call me back next week, i’ll tell the whole story from start to finish, the truth about the legend, we’ll tell the whole story from beginning to end.
This article is in loving memory of Anna Matthews, dearly loved and missed wife of Brendan and the backbone of the Matthews family (RIP).
The Matthews family in full voice celebrating Hilltown’s victory
