SHEFFIELD’S Greyhound of the Year Coolavanny Dylan will have a defence of his BresMed Northern Sprint title on the agenda when racing does resume.
His trainer Kirsty Grayson reports the three-year-old in decent form at the handler’s kennels adjacent to Owlerton Stadium, although admits the current shutdown brought about by coronavirus brings with it uncertainty.
“It’s no different from anyone else, we’re worried, but our priority is the wellbeing of the greyhounds,” she said. “They’re being well fed and watered and we’re still able to exercise them. Working with the dogs gets you through most things – even this.
“Myself and Nick (Taylor, partner) spend most of the time with the dogs, but I’ve a young family also so with the kids home schooling now we’re having to juggle things, but we’re managing as I’m sure most people are.”
Coolavanny Dylan’s superb 2019 included 11 open-race wins at Sheffield, including the only GBGB Category One sprint competition, the BresMed Northern Sprint, and that record earned him the top honour at the recent OGOA Annual Awards at the track.
“We had a great night there,” she said. “Dylan got the big award we thought he should have got in London – and I even won the ‘heads or tails’ game we had on the evening. It was myself and Lisa (Stephenson) in the final, which was fun. I won!”
Other awards handed out on the night included to Phil Barlow’s Inca Patriot, owned by Phil and Garry Parker, the Phil Sanderson-trained pair of Zanzibar Jet (Southfield Racing Syndicate) and Droopys Greta (owned by the Stocks family).
Also picking up honours were Lisa Stephenson’s Mata Hari for owner Gwyneth Rees and the Sean Davy-trained Act The Part (owned by Ellie Wrigglesworth and Glyn Dobb).
Stan Hutchinson, one of the organisers of the awards night and secretary of the Owlerton Greyhound Owners’ Association (OGOA), said: “It was great to honour those dogs who have been successful here – and also represented Sheffield so well elsewhere.
“We also handed out a few monthly prizes on the night, those which we’d held back for the annual awards night. These went to Cabriol Curtis (Sean Davy), These Old Shades (Barrie Draper), Derrygrath Sam and Coney Calcam (both Dean O’Brien).”
Rob Crawford, owner and OGOA committee member, said: “The Sheffield management and Napoleons Casino were very supportive with prizes for the raffle, the ‘heads or tails’ and Stan’s (Hutchinson) table quiz which kept everyone busy throughout the night!
“It all seems a long while back now given the ‘lockdown’ and we hope everyone keeps safe and well during this time. However as Stan says, it was right to celebrate those stars of the track in 2019 and am sure, when this is all over, we’ll do it all again for 2020.”
