We were absolutely thrilled to win the Greyhound of the Year with Swift Hoffman after finishing second with Newinn Yolo last year. In my mind, I thought he should win it. But then I would, wouldn’t I? We were sad that Paul Scott wasn’t able to be there due to ill health, but we kept him informed at his home in Newport and if ever a man was to get a tonic, Hoffman delivered it.
A year is a long time in greyhound racing, and I will never forget a particular trial session at Newcastle last March. Hoffman had run badly in his first two races of 2015. We found a shoulder problem and treated it and he flew in his first trial back doing 17.15 for the Newcastle sprint. (In his previous trials before the two bad runs he had done 17.05 and 17.09.). I was delighted that we seemed to have got to the bottom of it. The following week I took him back to Newcastle but I didn’t hear the trial time. I thought they said ‘17.08’ which was within a length of what was on my stopwatch. Paul phone and I told him I was pleased with the run. Her then called back to say he had seen the official return and it was 18.08.
I phoned the track who admitted that they were surprised. They had checked with the hare driver who thought it seemed like a decent trial. They admitted that they had experienced a few problems with the timing, but they hadn’t manually clocked him, which they would normally have done, and had to go along with the official timing. And it is still there on his race record.
We had already made our minds up to go to Shawfield and I said to Paul, ‘I don’t care what the Newcastle clock said, I watched the dog with my own eyes and he was flying. We are still going to Shawfield.’ A week later, he trialled in 29.09 at Shawfield, 12 spots quicker than Newinn Yolo. Thank God!
It all went from there and it is a dream come true to get a Greyhound of the Year title, up against some amazing greyhounds.
We feel so privileged to have owners like Paul in the kennel. The other point that often gets missed is that my partner Julie (McCombe) is every bit as involved in the training of the dogs as me. In my opinion, Julie is a top class greyhound trainer in her own right, my name just happens to be on the licence. Without her, our kennel would not have enjoyed the success that it has. Basically, this is a kennel with two trainers.
Swift Hoffman is due to have his first trial of the year at Perry Barr on Friday. It has been hard to get the dogs out due to all the rain, but at least the ground has been soft. I think we have only had four days of frost so far this year and Hoffman looks in great shape. I am also hoping to give Newinn Yolo his first sprint trial of 2016 within the next week or so. Ideally, if there are any slots available, I would hope to take him to Newcastle next Tuesday.
Our first big open race venture of the year is at Newcastle and the Pinpoint Healthcare Maiden Derby starting next Saturday.
I included Droopys Folly among my ‘Six to Follow’ for 2016 and she ran a sensational trial at Newcastle last week clocking 28.47 for the 480 metres. She is only a July pup and is unraced, so it is just the start of a long journey for her, but I am really excited about a bitch who was really bought with staying in mind.
My other entry will probably be Newinn Champ who did 28.95 in his trial after losing three or four lengths around the first two bends. He, too, has a lot to learn, but its great to be back in the swing of things.
