Greyhound racing is a 365-day-a-year commitment and finding any time for a holiday is difficult.
The dogs need a break too, particularly those who have had long racing commitments, and January is the ideal time. Julie and I managed to get a short break away in Dubai with owner Tommy Smith, and wife Claire, earlier in the month.
We had an amazing time, and although we are used to some very long days in the course of open racing, the late nights on holiday needed more stamina than a round trip to Hove.
While we were gone, we lost a couple of the kennel stars. Owner Paul Harmes decided to take home and train Droopys Folly and Charity Dragon. I was particularly gutted to lose Dragon because I thought there was a big race in him this year. Maybe there still is for Paul; I wish him the best.
But we still have plenty of exciting talent in the kennel including a lot of good young dogs and a couple of older ones who I think are still to reach their peak.
Here are six who I hope can shine in 2017:
FEARSOME PHANTOM (Westmead Hawk-Hesley Hawaii, May 14)
Phantom is owned by the Then There Were Five Syndicate and 2016 finished on a frustrating note. He ran in the final of the Henlow St.Leger and was desperately unlucky. It was a high quality field and we tried something a bit different with him for the final. We thought we had cracked it. He absolutely bombed out was taking the lead on the inside at the first bend when he collided with Kevin Hutton’s Mad For It and lost all chance.
But we know he is a very fast dog, well capable of a big win or two when he is back to full fitness. He had one of the longest campaigns of any dog in the kennel and is still on a decent break. We have the Regency in mind as his first main target, and looking at how Rubys Rascal was unable to make any impression on him at Nottingham, he might even be an option for the TV Trophy.
BLISSFUL SCOLARI (Droopys Scolari-Little Flame, Jun 14)
Scolari is owned by Tommy Smith and things didn’t always go right for him last year. He is a fast dog (29.52 500m Notts) but he has been off the track since October. His first objective is the Scottish Derby and we will see where we go from there
TAKE THE CROWD (Westmead Hawk-Little Flame, Feb 15)
We bred him ourselves and is owned by Darren Price, who also owned his full brother Take The Crown. Crowd has only won one of his first 15 opens, but he is a typical Westmead Hawk, he needs further and I am certain he will continue to improve with age.
We will be stepping him up in distance as he approaches his second birthday and looks as though he will be well suited to sharp stayers trips like the Monmore 630.
AZZURRI GENESIS (Superior Product-Swift Foundry, May 15)
Owned by Andy Parisi, Genesis was recommended by breeder Ian Greaves and we knew he was a bit special when he qualified in 27.70 at Belle Vue. He was beaten on his debut but then won his next three races as he went unbeaten through the Henlow Puppy Derby.
I like everything about him. He is not the biggest but he has a huge heart. The plan is for Monmore for the Puppy Derby but from what I have seen so far, this could be a vintage event.
BLACKSTONE OLLIE bk w d (Ballymac Vic-Blackstone Mini, Aug 15)
Ollie is owned by John Lamb and was bred by Paddy Sinnott out of the mother of Blackstone Marco. Paddy is a very shrewd guy and after one unofficial sprint trial, was so impressed that he took Ollie to Kilkenny and gave him his first 525. He clocked a calculated 29.41 when he was still only 15 months. Ollie is obviously very young but he has been trialling in the 16.30s for the sprint at Perry Barr and just might be one to keep an eye on.
THE OTHER BILLY bk d (Razldazl Jayfkay-The Other Peach, Jul 15)
Billy, who is another owned by Tommy Smith, has even less on his card. He was sent over by Jennifer O’Donnell who thinks a lot of him. He has 16.30 and 29.10 unofficial trials at Clonmel and is a big strapping dog who is due to start trialling with us this week.
I have been asked by the editor to nominate the best young prospect I have seen in recent months and one dog stands out for me – Dorotas Wildcat, trained by Kevin Hutton. He has only raced once but beat Take The Crowd on merit clocking 29.62 at Nottingham (500). His pace along the backstraight was pure class.
I had a chat with Kevin after the race and couldn’t help but be impressed by everything about the dog; he is an absolute stunner and definitely one to keep an eye open for in 2017.
I am in no position to judge the rights and wrongs of what happened when Jimmy Wright withdrew his runners from Newcastle on Thursday, and thereby lost his contract, after one of his trialists had broken a hock.
But I am delighted that a compromise has been agreed between Jimmy and the track with his partner Angela taking on the graded operation and Jimmy running a separate kennel for open racers.
I have no idea whether Jimmy had grounds for blaming the racing surface; the track has been excellent whenever I have been there. I can also understand that a track management can’t run a track according to the assortment of opinions of any number of different trainers.
But I would ask for some understanding. Jimmy absolutely worships his runners, you only have to look at the condition that they are always presented in. And when one of your runners gets hurt, particularly one of your favourites, it can get very emotional.
I can see the similarities to football when they interview the managers immediately after the game and he says something that they shouldn’t.
If a trainer still feels aggrieved 48 hours after an incident, then that is a very different thing. Thankfully common sense and compromise have prevailed and hopefully lessons have been learned on both sides.
In my personal experience there are always two sides to these stories and flare-ups often occur as a result of a build up of issues. The attitudes of some track managements that I have come across, have put me on edge from the start.
Some treat you like second class citizens, ‘simply turn up, put up and shut up’ – I can remember one senior racing manager describing trainers as ‘a necessary evil’.
I would like to end with a couple of tributes.
The first is to Mark Wallis on landing his eighth trainers championship title. As someone in the same line of business, I cannot tell you how extraordinary Mark’s achievements are.
Secondly, I would like to mark the passing of Terry Corden. I trained a dog for Terry once – sadly for both of us – it wasn’t one of his best.
But I always had massive respect for the man and would always stop and have a chat with him whenever we were both at Nottingham.
Terry was a great asset to the greyhound industry and will be badly missed by so many.
