Newinn Jacko, duly delivered on Ernie Gaskin’s plan to landed the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby which was eight months in the planning.

The July pup began the competition in the shade of kennel mate Droopys Addition. But while Addition was clocking a calculated 27.74 in the first round, Jacko scraped through in third place behind Swift Lettuce. Of the 18 qualifiers, he was 15th on the clock. In the semi finals, he blatted clear from the boxes (4.36 sect) and stopped the clock in a calculated 27.85.

The final was a thriller with four different leaders and the first five home covered by two and a half lengths. (click on result for video replay)

 

Ernie Gaskin said: “I was thrilled with that run. I already knew that Jacko was fast, but last night he showed determination and guts to win in a different style.”

It was last July that Ernie acquired Jacko from Tipperary breeders Jim and Shari-Anne O’Donnell.

He said: “I had been trying to buy some decent dogs, but it wasn’t working. So many of them underperformed when they got here. There are so many ten and fifteen thousand pounds dogs running in graded races and I couldn’t afford for that to happen.

“I decided to go the unraced route, but needed to deal with good honest people. That is how I came to deal with Sean and Michael Dunphy (Droopys Addition, Droopys Aoife, Roman Empire etc).

“I had an introduction from Paul Carpenter who had bought dogs from Jim O’Donnell previously. The one I had, a dog called Newinn Trump, wasn’t particularly quick; I won a maiden open with him at Crayford. At the time I spoke to Jim, Jacko was only 12 months old and had had one solo at Clonmel.

“Even though he was completely unexposed, I asked Jim how he thought Jacko would compare to Trump and he replied, ‘he will be a different class completely’. That was good enough for me so I bought Jacko and his sister entirely on trust.

“It was quite strange having such a young pup in the kennel. The youngest that I had ever handled previously would have been 15 months old. But I remember how Nick Savva operated when he was in his pomp. If he thought he had a special youngster, he would treat it like a superstar even if the pup hadn’t yet proved it.

“I realise that some people would have thought, ‘grade him in somewhere and let him learn the ropes there’. That makes no sense to me. If he is going to be a grader, he will naturally find that level. But in the meantime he could be knocked about, boxed up and over raced and I wasn’t prepared to do that.

“So I took my time with his trials with the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby always on my mind. Last night was still only Jacko’s ninth race. He has made some mistakes along the way, but at least he was learning. Pups don’t learn anything when they lead from trap to line, but you don’t want them to be too badly knocked around. So you have to be patient and give them time to grow up.

“I think a bit of his sister Newinn Liz, though I did have my doubts at one stage. I put her in a trial against Jacko and Droopys Aoife. She was well beaten, but of course I had no idea how good the other two turned out to be. I expect Liz to make a decent greyhound in her own right.

“As for Jacko, even if open racing was continuing, he would always have been given a month off after Monmore. It makes no sense not to give him a break.”