It was good to see that BAGS are ploughing streaming money back to the tracks for prize money, but I hope they don’t forget the open race trainers.
There are quite a few professional trainers who are not attached to tracks and we need some help too. For example, if I run a dog in a stayers open at Monmore and am taking on five local runners, I know that the trainers of the other five runners will be paid appearance money. That is not the same as prize money and it goes directly to the trainer. It is nine years since I gave up my contract at Monmore and it was £14 then for stayers; I have no idea what it would be now.
We wouldn’t actually end up any better off, because it would mean we could reduce the travelling costs for the owners, but it would help them keep their kennel bills down.
I am not saying that the tracks deliberately set out to penalise the open race trainers but it happens everywhere and it needs addressing. Now that the GBGB is recognising a trainer’s organisation once again, it will be one of the things that I hope our representative will bring up in future talks.
We were really pleased to have Little Flame produce the first litter of Swift Hoffman pups this week. She was whelped down by Michael Gargan from Bolton. He does a wonderful job with all our broods.
There were only five in the litter and we have since lost one of the bitch pups. Seven or eight would have been great but the mum missed last time and we glad that nature still hasn’t called time on her breeding career.
I was delighted with Blissful Scolari’s run at Nottingham on Monday night. He was only two lengths slower than Making Paper who we know is a top class greyhound, particularly when he can get a clear run, which he did on this occasion.
It was his first visit to the track since his first ever solo where it all went horribly wrong and I hope he can come on for the run. He certainly liked Hove and I think he can find a few lengths with more experience of Nottingham.
I certainly intend to persevere with him there. They stage a lot of races for British breds including the big race at the end of the year. In the meantime, we will be going for the Produce Stakes at Swindon where I also hope to run his brother Expresso Blue and Fearsome Phantom.
I took Phantom to Henlow for a trial last week (a 370 mile round trip – Ed) and hope that he gets a run in their big meeting this Sunday. In the longer term, I think he could make a decent stayer.
We also have a couple of absolute novices coming through who excite me. There is a November ‘Droopys’ pup who clocked 15.50 in his first sprint trial at Monmore and a December Kinloch Brae pup, Newinn Louis, out of a sister to Newinn Yolo, who clocked 16.23 in a sprint at Perry Barr. I hope you will be hearing a lot more about both of them.
