Ken Bebbington has three weeks NOT to get his first stewards inquiry before relinquishing his Monmore contract.
The 82 year old has been at the track for 18 years. His place will be taken by Chris Jones who is already qualifying his runners from the kennels of Ken’s late great pal, Lol Jones.
Ken said: “It is probably time to finish. It gets harder to fill staff positions and we are both getting old. We have 22 racing dogs at the moment, and a lot will be going straight to Chris. I’ll still keep coming to the track as an owner with probably two or three in the kennel. We also have a dozen or so retired dogs who will also be taken care of.”
Ken took up training after retiring from business aged 49. He started out at Milton Keynes before moving onto Bolton and Belle Vue, before switching to Wolverhampton. He has never faced a stewards inquiry at any stage, though he remains skeptical of the racing authorities.
He said: “I think the whole organisation is too big and too expensive and it doesn’t need to be in London. They should spread their people around the country, one at each track or covering more than I track. They don’t know what is going on. After all these years there was someone from GBGB at Monmore recently who demanded to know who I was.
“I remember years ago getting a phone call from the steward Jack Robinson who was quite embarrassed. He said, ‘Ken, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I have been told that one of your dogs has been picked up in Blackpool. It is 17 pounds underweight and covered in sores.’
“I said ‘that’s impossible, the dog is in the kennel.’ I was asked to present the dog which I did. I eventually found out that somebody had read the dog’s earmark upside down. I never heard anything else about it. Not an apology or an explanation.”
Although he has had a string of open race stars: Journey Of Hope, Dartfield Sally, April Playboy, Giglis Roanokee. . . . Ken will be best remembered for the exploits of the brilliant Knappogue Oak.
The brilliant white and black was a Millennium superstar famously winning the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket Final by 11 lengths and the Regency at Hove, as well as reaching a string of ‘Cat 1’ finals and breaking track records.
Ken said: “I bought her unraced for 1,500 Irish punts and with the exception of Romford where she struggled, she won everywhere we went without a trial. I would probably say the Regency was my favourite though the Golden Jacket was special too because she didn’t lead until halfway through the race.”
So is he proud of not having faced a stewards inquiry?
Ken replies mischievously: “I’ve still got until the the end of the month. Maybe I should try to get one!”
