I have had a handful of faster dogs than Clondoty Alex, but none with a bigger heart, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that he won the kennel’s first Category One event of the year on Friday night – the Coral Golden Sprint.
Alex is only two months short of his fourth birthday and he ran a brilliant race in the final to weave his way to the front. Although he went faster (23.88) in the heats, his winning time on slower going in the final (24.09), was all about performance, not time.
The kennel won the event twice with Kinda Magic when Linda (Jones) was training and again with Blonde Snapper. Alex had a much slower start to his career, he was probably even a bit disappointing, but he has absolutely matured into a very good greyhound.
I don’t think it was a vintage Golden Sprint but Alex would have arguably had an even better chance had the race been over any distance between 450-460 metres. He is just a born racer. Later in the year is to return to Yarmouth to defend his East Anglian Derby title.
We were given a proper hiding by Roxholme Magic in the match race with Rubys Rascal.
I knew our fate by the first bend and she basically broke his heart. Rascal has come off sound but very tired.
I am glad we took part, and the RGT gained £1,000 because of it. It was a spectacle too for the sport.
But Magic was one of the best two marathon greyhounds of my lifetime, along with Scurlogue Champ, and I think she would have given him a run for his money.
Alex’s win was his 65th race and to be honest, there could have been quite a few more.
For a long period of time, the owners insisted on me trialling him and there are another 28 trials on his card.
In more recent times they have left me to get on with it and his performances certainly haven’t deteriorated.
I take great pride in how so many of our dogs are able to keep going. I thought Calco Flyer was desperately unlucky in the final but won race 115 at Monmore on Thursday.
I can’t put a finger on why so many of our dogs are so resilient. We have big paddocks where they can exercise but I never gallop my dogs. We also have the an outstanding physio in Ron Mills checking them all over.
In some ways, I think we have a big advantage over trainers of years ago because – with the odd exception – the racing surfaces are far better than they used to be.
We have the Trainers Championship at Towcester later this month and I honestly think that we are among the outsiders.
We have a decent sprinter in Ela Ela Genie, though he doesn’t run the track particularly well, and a promising pup in Kingdom Legend, though he may have to make his debut at that meeting which is far from ideal.
We are okay for the stayers with Ferryforth Fran and Rubys Rascal who should be recovered by then.
But I really don’t know who we will run in the 500 races. The obvious two are Clondoty Alex and Roswell Romanov, but neither is really suited to the distance.
Alex doesn’t get 500 metres in top company and would his heart out to a point of it affecting him afterwards. Romanov is a Romford 575 specialist, our best since Adageo Bob, not a four bend dog. I think they would both score points but running them wouldn’t be in their best interests.
You would have to say that Jimmy Wright would have to have a live chance, particularly with Shellam Delano looking in such great form. The big race between Droopys Buick and Bubbly Bluebird would be worth the admission money on its own.
In my experience, you need at least two winners on the night, hopefully three, but preferable four. I am looking forward to it.
Next up we have four in the Three Steps To Victory at Sheffield: Rubys Razzle, Garyglass Champ, Saffrons Tina and Roswell Red Kite.
It looks to be a fantastic event and will take a lot of winning. If I could change one thing, I would stage it the other way around with the first round over the stayers trip.
Some of the dogs entered will clearly not stay the 660 metres but will stop some of the better stayers from reaching the final.
I am delighted with the way the kennelling is going and having been a man short for some time, we have been joined by Ryan Petite.
He is 22, ex-RAF but with a greyhound background and has settled in brilliantly.
Every year I set the kennel a new target. In 2017, although the first priority will be competitions, I want to chase down the record number of open wins for a calendar year.
I believe the record stands at around 358. Our highest ever total is 332 so it will take a mighty effort.
So far, I think we are around 80 open wins which puts us just ahead of schedule which is roughly ‘one a day’ for the rest of the year.
