Swift Iconic – the dog who came within a judgement call of being disqualified for deliberate interference, bounced back to land the £8,000 Bresbet Steel City Cup Final.
This is how the race unfolded:
Reflecting on Iconic’s second chance after appearing to deliberately impede Knockduff Eske in the East Anglian Derby semi finals, winning trainer John Mullins said: “Oh he definitely did it! The Yarmouth racing office didn’t want him to run in the semi finals. Because I had the rules on my side, they couldn’t make me withdraw him, but I virtually had to beg them not to disqualify him.”
That was five races ago. Iconic hasn’t put a foot wrong and Mullins has been vindicated.
While admiting that he was forced into “some old fashioned training”, primarily taking the dog on a lead in areas of the countrywide where the presence of lots of wildlife would sharpen his senses and enthusiasm to keep his mind on the lure.
Despite the success, the widely experienced handler remains bitter at the change of rules which prevents him from giving the dog a change of track between rounds of a competition.
He said: “The four day rule is an absolute joke. Did anybody ever think about consulting the trainers before they brought it in? It makes it so difficult for us to do our job properly, particularly if you want to run a dog in a competition.”
The son of two former Trainers of the Year is also incensed at what he perceived to be further interference with notices recently being displayed in the paddock at Yarmouth saying greyhounds will not be allowed to receive their booster vaccinations at the track and must be sent to the trainer’s own local vet.
He said: “If GBGB bring this in as a rule, I swear I will give up my licence on that day.”
Fortunately – that does not seem likely.
It appears that a veterinary advisory body has advised its members to consider whether they should allow medication to be administered where it is unlikely that immediate treatment could be followed up (in case of side effects, for example). This applies to all animals in sport, not just greyhounds.
Yarmouth’s track vet Simon Adams has chosen to take that advice though it is strictly advisory and most other vets seem likely to continue as previously.
GBGB are likely to issue guidance to trainers though there is no suggestion that there will be any change in the rules.