Swift Hoffman will trial at Nottingham again tomorrow (Monday) which will be his last run before the Betfred Select. He will need the run, or we would have been looking at 15 days between his last trial and the race itself.
I don’t have the patience to go on the forums, my partner Julie does, and apparently someone was questioning ‘why we let him trial so fast’ last week? Are these people for real? These dogs don’t have jockeys on them.
I have learned a lot from observing the trainers that I admire, people like Nick (Savva) and Charlie (Lister). When they get special dogs, they don’t race them all over the place, they prepare them for specific dogs and use trials as part of the preparation. I adopted that method, and while I respect everybody’s right to train their dogs how they choose, this is our way.
We briefly considered taking the dog to Dundalk, but it was never a serious option. For a start, he doesn’t have a pet passport. We could have sidestepped the rules by taking him into Southern Ireland via the North, but that would have made a horrendous journey.
But the main reason for not going was because we want to support our own tracks. We race at Nottingham throughout the year. It is a great track and we want to support their big races. We have won the Select twice already, and just having a dog good enough to be considered is an honour.
I would have liked to have seen all the field with some Nottingham experience to reduce the likelihood of trouble, but I realise that isn’t always possible.
The draw is on Friday and as one of two wides, we know we either have five or six. Everybody knows how much Hoffman loves the striped jacket but irrespective of which draw he gets, I would not anticipate him approaching his 28.93 trial time in a race.
As long as he is taking on at least one other dog, he will take a different course. In a trial he will rail. If he is on the outside of another wide runner, he would prefer to take a trap seven route. How can he possibly go as fast if he is running maybe an extra ten metres?
(Betfred bet: 11-8 Swift Hoffman, 7-2 Eden The Kid, 9-2 Domino Storm, Viking Jack, 8-1 Swift Keith, 10-1 Making Paper)
If Hoffman draws six, I think 11-8 looks a big price. If he draws five, he may well be bigger with punters keen to take him on.
Personally, it wouldn’t bother me if he was 1-20f. Despite his fast trial, we fully respect the opposition and know he will have to be at his absolute best to win it.
Sunderland was quite an emotional night for us, but much more so for poor Kelly Macari.
Pinpoint Maxi broke a front leg and it completely put a dampener on the evening. Kelly was in tears but they left during the meeting to get the leg fixed. So many more greyhounds are saved now than years ago when so many trainers used to consider the cost options above the dog’s life. Maxi was a tremendous greyhound and hopefully all has gone well.
Our runner Mileheight Alba ran in the next heat. He was almost clear at the bend and had his legs taken away by Farloe Nutter. He has come off the track with some scratches and scrapes on his legs and we have decided it will be his last race.
Had he been chosen for the Select, we would have extended his career by one race but he won’t take his place as a reserve.
I can’t tell you how much we think of him, he is a lovely natured greyhound and an absolute gent in the kennel. After what happened to Pinpoint Maxi, I wasn’t even thinking about him qualifying for the final, I was just hoping he would come off the track okay.
He could still win races, but he wouldn’t be a competition dog and we wouldn’t want to see him struggling as age starts to take its toll.
On the plus side, Camp Joker, the pup I wrote about in the column last week, duly won his first race at 10-1. I could not have been more thrilled. He didn’t trap brilliantly but showed the best early pace to lead at the bend and was not being caught at the finish.
“He has trap one in the final on Wednesday and wouldn’t have to find much to have a chance.
“As I said before, we think his brother Newyork Cityboy is potentially even faster based on his schooling tracks, and his litter sister Latin Charm isn’t exactly poor either. Joker did 16.13 in a sprint trial at Perry Barr and then beat another of my dogs who has already won an open by a length and a half in a sprint trial.
We had been trying to buy a nice young bitch for the Oaks recently and were quoted prices of £20,000 and upwards. It makes you wonder . . .
We are also off on the long journey to Hove this week for the Sussex Cup. As always, we have tried to prepare by giving the dogs some experience of the track.
Last week Burgess Oscar clocked 29.77, Varican Gurka did 29.98 and Ascot Woodie did 30.07.
Farran Heaslip will be running his first four bend trial at Nottingham after his monkey muscle injury – some of the readers might remember the picture that we showed of him after the operation.
We have taken our time in bringing him back. He has trialled several times over the sprint and has done brilliantly, clocking 17.62 at Nottingham last week which was quicker than Kippers Usain and Millwards Davy.
Injuries are part and parcel of our industry, but with a bit of luck and lots of patience, they aren’t necessarily career ending.
