We continue with the latest chunk of the George Curtis Training Greyhound Book, written by Julia Barnes and published in 1987. We will continue to publish the book is small sections – and have hopefully rectified the problematic character recognition software that affected the original introduction.
If you have missed any sections to date, here are the links:
Glin Bridge (Spectre-Shore Susie) goes down in greyhound racing history as one of the finest six-bend dogs. And his reputation lived on as he became Britain’s most successful stud dog. Curtis trained him when he first arrived from Ireland with a track record-breaking run of 33.50 over Enniscorthy’s 600 yards on his card.
Glin Bridge
“He was the cleverest dog I ever trained,” he said. “He could run from any box, which is a tremendous asset. The first time he ran at Brighton he was in trap one and the conditions were terrible. The track was running about two seconds slow on the inside.
“Glin Bridge came out and made for the outside. As he came up the back straight he went dead wide and won by half a length. Peter Shotton, who was racing manager, rang me up later and said he had never seen a better performance from a pup first time out.
“Then I took him away open racing and had him seeded as a wide runner. Bill Mahon the bookmaker, who used to do the prices on the Derby, saw him run at Wembley and said: “That dog of yours wants the inside. He hugged the rails all the way round.’ I told him that Glin Bridge chose his own way. And a couple of races later he said: ‘You’re right. That dog’s a computer. I’ve never seen another greyhound like it!’ All through his career, he ran like that. If there were two or three dogs in front of him and he saw a gap he would make for it, whether it was on the inside or the outside.
“A dog is either born with trackcraft or he isn’t. You can’t teach him it. Glin Bridge was exceptional. He used to train himself. You’d let him out in the paddock in the morning and he would run round and round in track-shaped circuits.” The brindle and white dog was quick to make his mark on the open scene and was soon competing at the highest level. His early victories included the 1975 Spring Cup at Wimbledon and in a spectacular open race at Wembley he beat Westpark Mustard coming from behind to win by 21/4 lengths in 40.68 for the 655m. He went on to run unbeaten through the 1975 Regency at Brighton and snatched final honours from Streaky Sheila by three-quarters of a length in 40.19.
“Charlie Coyle trained Streaky Sheila and he thought we were a bit lucky to win,” said Curtis. “The connections organised a match race over the same course and Glin Bridge led from traps to line.” Bridge was now becoming the dog to beat as he notched up a growing sequence of wins. Match races were organised and the November 1972 whelp kept romping to victory. He set a new track record of 39.77 for Walthamstow’s 640m in a match against Dancing Dolores and then won heat and final of the Gold Cup at Wembley. He collected another track record over White City’s 730m when he took on Lizzies Girl in a match race and won by 31/2 lengths in 44.03.
The St Leger, the ultimate prize for a trainer of stayers, was looming and Curtis felt he had one of the best dogs in the competition. But Glin Bridge proved disappointing and made his exit in the second round. He was put away for a couple of months and in his last season he came back to win the 1976 Ladbroke Golden Jacket over Harringay’s 660m. He ran from trap one in the final and won in 40.59.
“He was a wonderful dog and clocked up 15 wins on the trot in the highest company,” said Curtis. “I think he could have gone on longer but he was such an excitable dog. He was on the go all the time, jumping up and down in his kennel, chasing round the paddock. He wore himself out. He was never as good in his second season and when Westmead Champ beat him in the Regency final we retired him. He went to stud and the first bitch he mated produced a crop of open racers and he was made. That is the sort of retirement you hope for when a dog has given so much on the track.”
Bonzo, a big brindled dog by Silver Record-Clane Flint, was not one of Curtis’s most brilliant stayers.
But in a packed two years of racing he reached the final of numerous big competitions which certainly enhanced the trainer’s reputation. He was in the decider of the 1975 and 1976 Cesarewitch, the 1976 Grand Prix and the 1977 Longcross Cup, Golden Jacket and BBC TV Trophy. At the end of his career his hard work on the track was rewarded with a win in the 1977 Regency Final, which he took in 40.03.
Stud dog Spectre, the outstanding sire of stayers, completed a hattrick of top-class prize winners for Curtis when Langford Dacoit followed in the footsteps of Leading Pride and Glin Bridge. This May 1975 whelp out of Corboy Honey came close to giving Curtis his third classic victory when he reached the final of the 1977 Cesarewitch.
The Brighton record-holder who set a new time of 43.58 for the 725m course, was eventually robbed of glory by his great rival Montreen who beat him on the line by a short head. It was again Montreen who took honours when Langford Dacoit reached the final of the Stow Marathon. But he also enjoyed his share of wins with credits in the 1978 Chingford Marathon over Walthamstow’s 820m and the Key at Wimbledon. In this competition he broke the track record in the heats with a 53.75 run and then won the final by 642 lengths in 54.25. He went on to break track records at Romford, recording 59.56 for the 925m, and Brighton where he clocked 58.46 for the 955m before winning the Harringay Marathon, by 3/4 of a length in 52.30 for the 830m.
The Curtis kennel was now on the up and up and there was no shortage of owners wanting to place their dogs with the Brighton trainer. But in this matter, as in all others, Curtis has always been scrupulously fair. “The biggest worry is when someone comes to you and asks you to buy a dog for them,” he said. “The agent I use, Mick Sylver, has done well for me over the years. But the risk is that if the dog doesn’t live up to expectations you feel responsible. It’s a different side of the business and there’s certainly money to be made. But I’ve always preferred not to have the worry.
“Most people come to me with a dog and ask me to watch it trial. I think in this situation you must be totally honest. I am looking for a dog who is no more than 20 to 30 spots off grading time.
“More often than not, we are restricted for room in the kennel and if we take in a dog that is half a second adrift, he may be six weeks before he grades. All that time the owner is paying out the full amount for training fees. I always advise the owner to take the dog away and give it couple more trials around a schooling track until it finds that bit of extra time.
“There is no point paying bills for a dog that can’t grade. The game is hard enough without giving yourself more heartache. But I always watch a dog trial before I make a decision. Equally, I don’t take any notice of tales of fantastic times a dog has done. I want to see for myself. If I don’t think a dog has it in him, I say so.
“But I always say: ‘Come back if he gets closer to grading time.’ ”
Curtis admits his first love is open racing, but he doesn’t only go for dogs who are potential open racers. “We have a range of abilities going right through the grades to open class,” he said.
“We take slow dogs that start in the bottom half of the card — and hopefully you can get some improvement from them. I’ve also had dogs who struggle to win in A5 at Brighton but when you take them away they become a different dog. That is the advantage of being prepared to travel. You can produce results that dogs would never have been capable of at their home track.”
Open racing is a very expensive business and there is no way a trainer can bear the cost of transporting greyhounds nationwide when prize money is so modest. In the Curtis kennel they are usually able to share the cost between owners by making up the numbers with dogs competing in supporting open races or just going for the experience of running in a big competition. “You need owners who are prepared to put their hands in their pockets and pay the extra for the trainer taking a dog away,” said Curtis. “We always try to share the cost. It makes good economic sense. And there has been more than one occasion when your main hope is knocked out in the first round and the dog you have taken along for the ride goes on to win the competition.”
He believes the crux of the problem lies with the prize money that is on offer for open race competitions. “I could never afford to travel from Brighton to, say, Belle Vue for the amount of prize money they offer,” said Curtis. “It has to come down to the owners paying out, and I don’t see why they should. After all, the stadium is benefiting from staging the competition and having the best dogs racing there. They make their money on the tote and on the gate, but they don’t even pay enough prize money to cover expenses.”
Curtis feels this lack of funds particularly keenly for his kennel staff. “You are asking the youngsters to work terribly long hours,” he said. “They start at the kennels at 7 am and if we are racing they don’t finish until 11 pm. If we are open racing it’s much later than that. I have always paid my staff the best wage I could, but it is still far too low. It’s okay if you are living at home, but you could never support a family on that money.
“The prize money goes to the owner — and he is under no obligation to give anything to the kennel. If they give £100 after winning a big race they think they are making a handsome gesture, but when you are sharing it between a staff of six or seven it’s nothing. The best owners are the ones who are aware of the situation and make a special point of looking after the staff if they are travelling away with a dog. I have a lot of good owners and most will give the kennel a ten per cent share of the prize money. But they don’t have to — and you can’t rely on it.”
