When your feed bill has risen by a third, the best thing you can do is relieve a feed company of £5,000 and then do it again five days later.
Last Sunday Ballymac Slapup landed the Gain Greyhound Nutrition Sovereign Stakes at Towcester. On Friday night, Swift Iconic helped himself to a similar amount in the same sponsor’s Gold Cup at Oxford.
Like many professional greyhound trainers, John has noticed a significant increase in costs in recent months but if there is one area where he would never cut corners, it is with his feeding.
He said: “My feed bill has gone up from between £360-£400 per per week up to well over £600. Gas is up a third. Milk powder is up a third and that is all since the start of the year. But we can’t put our prices up.”
While fellow professional Mark Wallis, and the trainers representative Peter Harnden have recently gone public to suggest that track’s ‘trainer payments’ should go direct to owners, John completely disagrees.
He said: “I am surprised that after years of saying open race trainers should be entitled to runner money for taking dogs to tracks, they now seem to be saying that these payments should go to owners. I disagree with Mark and Peter and have told them so.
“My contract is with the track, to supply whatever number of dogs we agree. It has nothing to do with the owners. That is a separate discussion between myself and the owner about how much I charge or how much they are prepared to pay for me to train their dog.
“Besides, it is impossible to stop tracks doing secret deals with trainers because we all know that all trainers aren’t paid the same in the first place.
“It isn’t tracks that are causing problems for trainers making a living, it is other trainers offering to do the job on the cheap. They are cutting each other’s throats.”
John splits his racers, currently racing strength 44, between Yarmouth and Towcester with then majority racing at the Derby venue. Swift Iconic began his career in D1 there, Ballymac Slapup was switched to shorter trips when it became obvious that the 500m trip was beyond him
John said: “Iconic will be headed to the All England Cup next. If Signet Goofy qualifies for the Eclipse Final, he will go to Newcastle as well. If he were to be eliminated in the semi finals (tonight), then he’ll go for the British Bred Derby at Sheffield. We will also be taking Mr Chelm*, otherwise known at Kildare.
“Chelms Chris, Silverspring Ria and Miss Big Pants will be off to Oxford (for the Bet365 Chellenge Cup) and Ballymac Slapup is going to Nottingham for the National Sprint.”
* Mr Chelm has trialled three times for John, clocking 16.40 (-05) for the Central Park sprint, 29.18 (-20) over the track’s 480m and 29.83 (+30) for the Nottingham 500m.
Swift Iconic’s Oxford win was the kennel’s seventh Cat 2 of the year. There has been just a single Cat One win, for the British bred pup that was reared on the Mullins’ nine acres, Signet Goofy (Steel City Cup).
Currently in the paddocks are four litters of pups including Goofy’s seven month old younger half brothers and sisters, by Droopys Sydney out of Forest Natalee. There are also a Dorotas Wildecat litter out of Not Too Late, and a locally produced group by Hiya Butt out of Swift Mollie and a couple of pups sent by Rab McNair.
John said: “I get quite a few enquiries but I can only rear so many and would always have to look after people like Kevin (Hutton) who has always supported me and I am due to take a litter in for Seamus Cahill”
So is there any space?
John said: “Pups are always moving on and I should have a space for a litter from February onwards.”
Steve Rayner, representing the sponsors, present the Gold Cup trophy to John Mullins
