“In my view he is the fastest dog in training. Can you name me one who is faster?”
A bold statement from Richard Yeates, though the man who first took out his training license in 1959 is prepared to let his dog do the talking in today’s TRC Health + Hygiene Blue Riband semi finals at Towcester.
Faughan Rebel’s outstanding first round performance was understandably overshadowed by the tragic accident involving Bockos Doomie – as acknowledged by the winning trainer, “I feel so sorry for the dog and his connections. A terrible loss of a fantastic greyhound”.
In fact, the Janssens star was a barometer by which Yeates judged his own runner.
Richard said: “Rebel ran Bockos Doomie to half a length at Hove after missing his break. How many dogs in training would be able to do that?”
Rebel was the outstanding trialist before last September’s Star Sports Derby but went out in the first round and his first round Towcester win was only the ninth since he moved to England last year.
Richard said: “He only had three races in Ireland. That was one of the reasons that Paul McCluskey sold him. The dog had a 28.59 run on his card (in June 19) but he pulled a muscle and after that they hadn’t been able to get races for him. Paul told me how much he rated the dog and sold him for an incredibly fair price. So even though he is three years and two months old, the dog is still remarkably inexperienced.
“It is that greenness that is my only concern with him. He is inclined to miss his break, like he did at Nottingham. Even then he was in a position to qualify but made his own mistake and took the wrong line.
“But you cannot argue with his pace. Whenever he trials, no matter what else is trialling on the same day, Rebel is always the quickest. We are still to see the best of him.”
As for the draw?
“I’m not unhappy with five. I actually think he is more of a middle seed, but until he gets to know a track he swings wide at the second bend so you couldn’t blame any racing manager for insisting that he has a ‘W’.”
Faughan Rebel is currently the 5-1 favourite to land the event.
