With less than a month to go until the end of the year, David Mullins is hoping for his highest ever position on the Trainers Championship table. He is currently in fourth, 47 points ahead of next placed Angela Harrison. His previous best was fifth in 2020.
It has been a year of ups-and-downs for the kennel with the first peak occurring back in April when Droopys Rex landed the Cearnsport Springbok at Central Park.
For a trainer based at a track without jumps, David has a pretty useful record with jumpers having previously won the Champion Hurdle and Grand National. Rex left the kennel soon after his victory and is currently running graded on the flat and over hurdles for Barrie O’Sullivan.
David said: “I couldn’t get races for him and it seemed the best solution. The thing was, Rex was probably the most gifted jumper in the Springbok but he wasn’t the fastest. As the other novices learned to jump better they improved, but he was never going to get any faster.”
The kennel’s next star was Kishlawn Shakira who set a new 712m track record at Towcester prior to her victory to the Gain Greyhound Nutrition Challenge Cup on Derby Final night. Her rise to fame is equally interesting.
David said: “One of our owners, Tony Dean, spotted her running in Ireland. She had some decent 525 form but Tony thought she would stay further. He also reckoned there was something amiss with her.
“Sure enough she came into the kennel and we found a shoulder problem. We put that right and it all went from there. She came off with a bit of a niggle after the Hunt Cup when she ran below expectations. She will be checked out and if it is nothing too serious – and I don’t think it is – we’ll be looking at the Essex Vase and then hopefully the Golden Jacket.”
Ten days after Shakira’s Towcester success, Team Mullins were back at the Northamptonshire venue for the final of the £12,500 Juvenile Classic where Brookside Richie held off Anynamewilldo by the minimum margin. After the race, the successful handler revealed that the Juvenile Classic was a bonus; the dog’s main objective had been the Romford Puppy Cup which was next on the agenda.
That decider proved altogether less stressful on his trainer’s blood pressure with the 1-3f winning by almost six lengths and delivering a different prophesy.
David said: “He was brought back as an unraced pup by Richie (Vickers) who jointly owned the dam. Sometimes dogs are said to be ‘unschooled’ and you can tell those that have had plenty of trials. He clearly hadn’t.
“When I see genuine novices, I would expect them to find a full second on their first look at Romford – providing that they remain sound and are honest. Even if that takes a year to achieve.
“Richie clocked 24.63 and at that stage, I did start to doubt myself a bit. I then took him to Central Park and he did 16.31 for the sprint – that is actual time, not calculated. I thought ‘maybe you are right after all.”
(Richie’s Puppy Cup winning time was ‘a mere’ 23.68 – though the year isn’t up until April!)
Richie finished lame in the Kent Derby Final which was the 15th race of his career. The previous 14 had produced 11 wins and three seconds.
David said: “He is due to be checked over shortly and we will start to make plans for him. I am waiting to hear news on the (RPGTV) Juvenile and he may have a couple of races either side, prior to the Derby.”
The kennel’s most recent success came on Tuesday night when the 2020 Sprinter of the Year Shrewd Call landed the Gain Nutrition Sovereign Stakes. Incredibly, it was his first major win of the year.
David said: “It is surprising when you look at how many finals he has made, you would think he had won more. Last year he won just about everything.
“The thing is, I thought this would be his best year. These sprinters tend to get stronger and more reliable with age, but until Tuesday it just hadn’t happened for him.”
Call and kennelmate Matts Malibu are now headed for the National Sprint but will not be joined by Billericay Tony who ran a bizarre semi final when he appeared to make contact with the eventual competition winner.
David said: “I know what many people were thinking but he pulled a stomach muscle on the run-in. In my experience in 99% of the cases where that kind of incident happens, one of the dogs has hurt themselves. I think he could develop into a high class sprinter next year.”
Tenpin – pictured today
Of course the biggest downer on 2021 was the serious injury to Tenpin in a trial at Perry Barr. The kennel’s leading star dislocated his hock and broke a tibia and when he first heard the news, David was deeply shocked.
He said: “I honestly worried that he wasn’t coming home. The thing is, we get attached to all these dogs, but I have always had a special bond with Tenpin. I seldom parade dogs, but I paraded him for his first race, and have always done ever since. He is such a lovely dog.
“After he was operated on and the vet said there was still a chance he could race again I was very skeptical. But he had had a fixator fitted which provided support but also allowed full movement. It was removed, he is allowed off the lead now and is walking freely.
“He occasionally gives a little hop but is way ahead of where I would expect him to be at this stage.
“Once they can take the weight on the leg, I like to give them the chance to use the leg in a paddock, the muddier the better until they build up the strength.
“The leg looks fantastic and if there has been any muscle wastage – which is often a worse problem than the hock itself – I can’t see it.
“We don’t have a timetable but I guess we will start thinking about getting him back to track in around about February. He will have plenty of work at home before he appears on a track.
“The one thing I will guarantee is that he won’t come back unless he can come back as a division one open racer. He certainly won’t come back as a grader, though that is a subject that annoys me a bit. If and when he does come back, I wouldn’t want to see him thrown in top divisions of races just because of what he has done in the past. That’s just not fair.”
David admits that he has learned lessons from having Tenpin in the kennel that have helped him enjoy Brookside Richie’s career even more.
He said: “Tenpin was just something else and I always viewed him as a ‘once in a lifetime greyhound’. Even taking him for a trial would draw people to watch him.
“I was surprised, but that pressure got to me a bit. When Richie turned up, I decided to play it a lot cooler and not take everything quite so much to heart. But I’m not embarrassed by how I felt. It should always matter and you shouldn’t stop caring.”
Should Tenpin return to racing there is only one main objective, the 2022 Greyhound Derby.
David said: “We will see how it goes. He didn’t really take to the track previously, but then neither did Shrewd Call when he first went there. It might be one of those tracks that dogs learn to run.”
David was delighted to hear of the introduction of eight Premium Category One events worth £20,000 to the winner and hopes to be challenging for a few in 2022.
He said: “They are long overdue, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t appreciated. I’ve always had a bit of a problem with prize money. Back in the early 90s I was at Sunderland before an open race and I remember thinking, ‘there are six dogs in this race that are worth a minimum of £2,000 each, and they are running for £100. Why do we bother?
“So these increases are definitely a step in the right direction and don’t forget, bigger prize money means more expensive dogs and incentives to keep breeders in the game. It all filters through”
David has a couple of exciting youngsters who he hopes will be competing at open racing’s top level. Brookside Bale is an unraced son of Magical Bale and Bubbly Rose who he has huge confidence in. He is due to make his debut this weekend though David thinks he might be suited to a bigger circuit than Romford.
(For those monitoring these things, Bale clocked a calculated 24.76 in his first look!!!!!)
There is also another high profile, exciting Irish youngster whose identity David chooses to keep to himself for now.
Watch this space!
