One of the best known and popular kennel hands in the business, Pete Vernon, died on Wednesday following a long battle with brain tumours.
Pete played a major role in the success stories of Linda Jones, Mark Wallis before spending four years assisting Patrick Janssens. Mark and Patrick pay tribute to a great greyhound man.
Mark’s first memory of Pete Vernon was one that he can recall with a smile
He said: “Linda had the license and Sarah had just had my son Daniel so we were short on staff. Pete had been working for Nicki Chambers and Ron Mills tipped me off that he might be looking for a job as Nicki was giving up training.
“They had one runner at Romford which won by a country mile. As the dogs went to the pick-up Pete stepped onto the track and was sent flying through the air. I picked him and dusted him down. He never forgot it. A couple of weeks later I saw him again and asked if he wanted the job.
“A couple of years later, Linda gave up the licence and Sarah and I talked about taking over the kennel. There were a lot of people sniping that I wouldn’t make it as a trainer without Linda. We felt the world was against us. But with Pete and Patrick agreeing to stay, we decided to carry on training. They made all the difference.
“I think Pete had done some flapping before he joined Nicki Chambers but he had also gone into further education, he took a degree in agriculture, because he wanted to work with animals. As soon as you saw him around greyhounds, you realised why.
“He had his own way with the dog and was the kindest man I ever saw handling a greyhound. I never saw him lose his temper even once, even if the dogs were messing around. And he treated all dogs the same, which is quite ironic because I bet nobody has ever paraded more Category one winners.
“When he went to trials, he would always report back how the dogs had run with the bare minimum that you needed to know. ‘This railed, that missed its break’ that kind of thing.
“I remember one day him coming back from Yarmouth with a cheap bitch we had bought for Ian Greaves intended to run graded, which is where she started. But I remember Pete saying ‘that one is going to be very special’ It was so unusual for him to comment like that. But the little bitch turned out to be Domino Storm.
“Patrick and I have stayed in touch about Pete and when he told me yesterday that Pete had died, I tweeted the sad news. I have never known such a response to a tweet. He was clearly very well loved.
“My final thought on Pete also came from a comment from Patrick when he visited him a couple of weeks ago. Despite everything he was going through he said ‘the last 20 years, with being involved in the dogs, has been the best 20 years of my life’
“I thought that was special”
Patrick said: “It is a very sad day, but also a great relief. I last saw Pete about two weeks ago and he was in a very bad way and I am pleased his suffering is over.
“We talked about racing and he was so excited that Goldies Hotspur had won the Greyhound Star Marathon. Greyhound racing remained his great passion to the end.
“I first met Pete in 2001. I started working for Linda in the June and he joined in the October. It was soon obvious that Pete had a very special relationship with the dogs and he treated the slowest grader the same as a Derby winner.
“If you had a nervous dog that couldn’t be caught in the paddock, they would always come to Pete. I might lose my patience and walk away, but he never would.
“He would talk to the dogs and had a special bond with them. I think the highlight was in the Trainers Championship night at Doncaster and Pete’s special dog, Eyeonethestorm was running. Eyeonethestorm had started out in A8 and Pete and the dog loved each other.
“It was the last leg and to win the competition, Eyeonethestorm had to win, and I think Charlie’s (Lister) dog had to finish out the first two. We said to Pete, ‘you have to walk him, he won’t win for anyone else’ and he did. Pete was just overcome with it.
“Quite often Pete would take complete no-hopers and come back with wins. There were the four of us at the time, Mark, Sid (Huett), Pete and myself and we felt we were invincible.
“Pete Vernon was a lovely lovely man and it was a privilege to know him”
Wimbledon 14.3.06 L-R: Pete Vernon, Patrick Janssens, Mark Wallis and Sid Huett with the Trainers Championshup trophy – pic Steve Nash
