Towcester trainer Gary Griffiths is about to switch his Brynhall Kennel strength of around 25 racers from Towcester to Monmore as he further looks to secure a long term future in the industry.
Gary with Robbie On Fire
The Wigan based handler started out on the Lancashire flaps and is a former hare driver at Westhoughton.
He made the leap to GBGB racing by cutting his teeth at Perry Barr before eventually being offered a position at Belle Vue.
He said: “I absolutely loved Belle Vue and stuck it out until the end. We even won the last race before it closed.
Most of the other kennels had move on by then and given the way things were going with tracks losing meetings, nobody would take us on.
“We had between six months and a year when I could easily have got out of the game. We were running graded dogs in opens just to keep them ticking over and trialing whenever we could. Thankfully the owners stood by me and we never lost a dog.
“One day I phoned Towcester to ask for a trial and couldn’t believe how helpful they were. It wasn’t just ‘no problem’, but ‘how many would you like?’
“I couldn’t believe how nice they were. I was blown away by the place, and still am. After the first trials, I asked if they could fit me in the following week and once again it was a case of ‘no problem’.
“As I was about to leave after the second trial session, Andy (Lismore) said, ‘these dogs are graded after one more trial if you fancy running them’. Until then it had never occurred to me to race there. It is a three hour journey from Wigan but they were only racing on a Sunday morning at the stage so it wasn’t a problem.
“I absolutely loved going there, it was a fantastic break after everything we had been through. Over a period of time though, the extra meetings started and with the opens switching to Sundays, we were left with two midweek meetings and the journey started to take its toll.
“Every race day was 12 hours and if we had a runner in the last race we couldn’t get home until 3am. So when the opportunity came up to run at Monmore, I jumped at it. It is a top class track and very well run. The journey is an hour and 20 minutes which will be a massive change.
“I’d like to conclude by thanking Towcester for giving us the opportunity to race there. The highlight was probably winning a heat of the Derby with Kevin’s (Boothby) Savana Domino. I also have to thank kennel hand Phil Jones and Vanessa Sharp for all the work they do behind the scene. We are really looking forward to the next chapter.”
