GEORGE CURTIS: CHAPTER THREE (1/4)

THE CHAMPION

TRAINING greyhounds can be a lonely business. At its best you are surrounded by friends and fellow trainers and when every1 thing is going well, everyone wants to talk to you.

But the burden of responsibility when you have 70 racing dogs, kennel staff, owners and track management all making their demands, can be crippling. To this day, Curtis still misses his brother Charlie, the man with whom he could always share his problems. The two were so close they were a tremendous source of support to each other. It was not until Bill Masters arrived at his kennels that Curtis found someone else to share the load.

“I have always tried not to take my work home with me,” said Curtis. “Lily has a fair idea of what is going on and she knows when something has upset me. But when Bill came, I had someone who could share the day to day problems.” Curtis used to train dogs for Bill Masters, who had a farm and reared a few litters of greyhound pups on the side. “He decided to set up on his own account and he came to me for a few months to learn the game,” said Curtis.

That was in 1982 — and Bill is there still. He worked as head man until the start of 1987 and was an integral part of the team that made Curtis champion trainer three times in four years. “There was something in Bill that made him lucky for me,” said Curtis. “From the time he arrived we started doing really well and we never looked back. He made things so much easier for me. We worked well together and I had someone to discuss things with.

“I could trust him completely and that gave me more time to concentrate on the dogs instead of worrying about every little thing that was happening in the kennel.”

When Curtis decided to step down, the two swapped roles and Curtis now works as Bill’s head man. “Funnily enough, it was not a difficult thing to do,” said Curtis.

“It was much easier than I thought it would be. Bill and I think very much on the same lines and I am happy to give him all the help I can. There is nothing I want more than for him to succeed.”

When Bill first started, Curtis had 78 greyhounds in his range. “I couldn’t believe how he had managed to look after them all,” said Bill. “I loved the whole business of training greyhounds from the start but I soon learned what hard work it is. If there is one factor that has made George successful it is that he is such a tremendous worker. He is so dedicated he simply never stops working.”

Bill acknowledges a huge debt to Curtis. “He taught me everything I know,” he said. “No matter how busy he is, he will always find the time to help people — and that has meant everything to me.”

Bill’s arrival at Brighton coincided with the first runners from the great Pecos Jerry – King’s Comet litter bred by Jane Hicks. “The first litter she bred included Hackney Carriage and Status Quo,” said Curtis.

“They were good dogs, although they had niggling injuries. The turning point came with the second litter which included Yankee Express and Copper Beeches, which came to us, and Kings Merlin, which went to Arthur Hitch.”

Right from the start Yankee Express showed he was a star in the making and according to Curtis he was a gift to train.

“He was so easy,” said Curtis. “He was a funny dog in the kennel, always a bit nervous of strangers. But he was a different dog on the track. Nothing could distract him. He trapped brilliantly and he had tremendous early pace. He was also tremendously consistent. He was the best sprinter I ever trained and the greatest dog I handled until Ballyregan Bob.”

Yankee got his career off to a flying start, reaching the semi-finals of the 1982 Laurels. He then went on to compete in his first Scurry Gold Cup and showed an immediate liking for the tight-bended Slough circuit. He came second in the first round and then won his second round heat by 71/2 lengths in 26.82 for the 442m and his semi-final in 26.94.

He was made favourite for the classic final — and gave himself plenty to do. “He swung off wide and then nipped back inside,” said Curtis. “It was certainly his luckiest Scurry win.” The brindled dog got the verdict by a neck, clocking 27.19. But even with his share of luck it was a remarkable achievement for a greyhound that was only 20 months old.

Curtis always claimed that Yankee Express did not run the big galloping tracks so well and as a result he never showed his best form at Brighton. But that did not stop him going hot from his classic victory to land the Sussex Cup. He ran unbeaten through the competition and in the final he beat his brother Copper Beeches by 11/4 lengths, recording 30.06 for the 515m. He finished his first season’s racing with a string of open race wins, reaching the final of the Take Your Place Trophy at Brighton and the Sporting Life Juvenile Championship at Wimbledon.

In the same year Curtis also had the great staying bitch Paradise Lost running for him. The March 1980 whelp by Paradise Spectre out of Gerards Sally was a regular raider of the open race circuit. She won the 1982 Regency at Brighton in a record-breaking 44.65 for the 740m and then the following month she stormed to victory in a 740m open race at her home track and demolished the track record by a further nine spots. The GRA Stakes at White City was her next target and she picked up the £2,000 first prize after beating Alfa My Son by a neck, recording 44.67 for the 730m.

Kasama Trac (Butchers Trac-Lady Kasama) also joined the strength from Bert Barwick and put in a fine display to win the 1982 Cearns Memorial at Wimbledon. The brindled dog set a new course record of 40.70 for the 660m in his heat and then lowered the time by a further 13 spots when he won his semi-final. In the decider he clocked 40.83, beating Blue Torment by 2 lengths.

The year’s successes were enough to make Curtis runner-up in the trainer’s championship behind Wembley’s Adam Jackson. But 1983 was the year that Curtis will always remember as the start of his real glory days. In that year Paradise Lost, Sandy Lane, Sammy Bear, Sir Winston, Copper Beeches and the great Yankee Express were all running at the peak of their form and there was no stopping the Curtis kennel.

Yankee Express started the New Year on a winning note, running unbeaten through the William Hill Super Trapper at Hackney. He made it all look so easy, winning his heat by 53/4 lengths in 29.38 for the 484m, his semi by 6 lengths in 29.86 and then taking the final by 51/2 lengths in 29.52. The Pall Mall at Harringay, acknowledged as the best test in the country below classic status, boasted a top-class entry that year, but Yankee hardly seemed to notice the opposition as he continued his unbeaten run through to the final.

He won his first round heat by 4 lengths in 28.73, his second round heat by 71/2 lengths in 28.41 and his semi-final by 23/4 lengths in 28.47. The final was scheduled for Friday, April 8. But the Curtis camp had two other irons in the fire. Sir Winston (Myrtown-King’s Comet) had reached the final of the Grand National at White City due to be run on Saturday, April 2 and Sandy Lane was in the final of the BBC TV Trophy at Walthamstow on April 6.

“We couldn’t believe we had three runners in three major competitions,” said Curtis. “I said to Bill Masters: ‘If just one of them wins I’ll be happy.” The first to run was Sir Winston. He was third in his first round heat – beaten 34/4 lengths. He won his second round heat in 30.92 and then qualified in third place in the semis. “I honestly didn’t think he had much of a chance,” said Curtis. “Alan Taylor had been taking him up to White City for me and he believed in the dog — but I didn’t think he could pull if off.

“We were racing at Brighton on the Saturday night so I couldn’t be there for the decider. But the result was announced over the loudspeaker. Gunner Smith also had a runner — Wolseleys Scout — and when they said: ‘Home win for Brighton’ I immediately thought ‘Old Gunner’s won it. I couldn’t believe it when they said it was Sir Winston.” The brindled and white dog got the verdict by just half a length from Master Bob. His winning time was 31.09.

Four days later, Curtis’s great staying bitch Sandy Lane, owned by Peter Carpenter who now trains at Reading, took her chance in the final of the BBC TV Trophy. The November 1980 bitch by Maplehurst Star out of Pla Irish Imp had been making a name for herself from the beginning of the year, reaching the final of the Mecca Bookmakers Stayers Stakes at Hackney and the William Hill Classic at Wembley. She was in great form at the start of the TV Trophy and won her heat from future classic winner Jo’s Gamble by an impressive 83/4 lengths, clocking 52.40 for Walthamstow’s 820m.

“I fancied Sandy Lane,” said Curtis. “All she had to do was to keep out of trouble.” Paddy Milligan’s Minnies Matador started as 5-4 favourite but the anticipated match between him and Sandy Lane who started at 7-4, failed to materialise. Minnies Matador took an early lead but was soon challenged by Adamstown Miller the 33–1 outsider. Going down the back straight the two were still competing for supremacy as Sandy Lane swept past on the outside. By the finishing line she had gone 41/2 lengths clear and recorded a winning time of 52.43. Adamstown Miller was second and Minnies Matador in third.

“I was shouting her home and as she crossed the line I fell off the step, I was so excited,” said Curtis. “When I went to collect the prize I could hardly walk.”

Two days later the crowd was buzzing at Harringay waiting for the start of one of the classiest Pall Mall finals in this history of the competition. The line-up in trap order was Hillville Flyer (4-1), Lannon Lass (8-1), Go Winston (33–1), Raceway Mick (66–1), Long Spell (4-1), Yankee Express (4-5 fav). “I walked Yankee round myself that night,” said Curtis. “It was the hardest test because the competition was so strong. But I knew all he had to do was the same as he had done in the earlier rounds — get a flyer from the traps.”

The lids went up and Yankee, ideally berthed in trap six, shot out like a scalded cat. By the second bend the race was his. Long Spell, the celebrated £50,000 purchase, tried valiantly to reduce the leeway from the third turn. But Yankee galloped on to win by 13/4 lengths in 28.55 for the 475m.

The Curtis kennel had achieved a seemingly impossible dream, winning three major competitions, including a classic, in seven days. “That is a week I will never forget,” said Curtis. “Everything went like clockwork for us. We didn’t seem to be able to do anything wrong.”

He decided to miss the Laurels with Yankee and rest him in preparation for the Derby. But Sandy Lane kept the Curtis kennel in the headlines, setting a new course record over Wimbledon’s 868m when she won an open race in 54.11 – a record which has yet to be bettered. She then went on to win the Key, staged at the Plough Lane circuit. Again, she was in unbeatable form and crossed the line 73/4 lengths in front of House Of Crystal in the final in 54.41.

** Post script – In 1990, three years after the publication of George Curtis Training Greyhounds, Bill Masters decided to relinquish his trainer’s licence and Hove contract. He said: “We are already racing four times a week, and with rumours of an extra BAGS meeting it would be five. The extra racing has taken all the enjoyment out of the sport for me.”