As they would say in ‘Y’kshire, ‘Lad were bred en reared fut job’

Jimmy might be the third ‘Gaskin’ on the open race scene, following Ernie and Yvonne, but he has hit the ground like an open race sprinter. The 25 year old only took out his training license in late 2019 but he has four open race wins on his CV already.

Mayshopendream appropriately kicked off the run at Doncaster, and was soon followed with an open double at Nottingham late in January, courtesy of Waikiki Spy and Kellsboro Sky, followed on Monday with a win for Headford Maurice.

Given his pedigree, it is no surprise that Jimmy is a born trainer. Forget the ‘Gaskin’, check out the dam line. His mum Sharon is a daughter of Doncaster promoter Teddy Watson, while ‘Nanna’ is the prolific open race trainer Sue Watson. Both have influenced Jimmy’s rearing and development.

Jimmy said: “I was pretty much born into it really, I’ve been around greyhounds all my life. I have always helped my Nanna out in the kennels, and I also spent some time in the racing office at Doncaster.”

When Sue Watson moved to a larger kennel, Jimmy asked to take over her Redbrick Kennels, and he already has around 35 hounds in his care.

He said: “I only have a greyhound trainer license and a lot of them aren’t racers. I have some old retired dogs, and a litter of pups being schooled. They are by Pinpoint Boon our of Drumcrow Anna and they have gone really well. Apart from that I have eight graded dogs and four open racers.”

Ably assisted by his uncle Andrew and Barry Mee, everything about the set-up suggests that this pleasant enthusiastic young handler has a great future in front of him. And the dog who could put his name on the map is the previously mentioned, Kellsboro Sky.

The Feb ’18 whelp clocked 28.76 for Nottingham’s 480 metres in late January and ran a cracker when narrowly beaten by Lemon Ronald on Monday.

Jimmy said: “Nanna had Swift Jim disqualified in the Derby third round last year. There were no complaints, he was an accident waiting to happen. He was like a tiger at the pick-up. But it gave us the taste for the Derby and Kellsboro Sky was bought with that in mind.

“We bought him from Ciara Walsh in Ireland. He had a 28.40 run at Waterford on his card and Ciara has sold us decent dogs before. He certainly looks the part.”

Two for the notebook. The greyhound and the trainer.