What connects a double English Derby winner, an Irish Derby winner, plus one of the fastest middle distance dogs seen in Britain in recent years?
The answer is exiled Brits Kath and Mike Pomfret.
The Pomfrets burst onto the scene after buying four 12-week pups in Kildare in and rearing them at home in Lancashire. Mike rated one particular brindle as a bit special and took to the open race scene with him back in the summer of 1999. The dog was Rapid Ranger
The brindle finished last in the Puppy Classic final when beaten by Charlie Lister’s exceptional Kit Kat Kid. Within two months though Ranger had finished runner-up (4-5f) in the Manchester Puppy Cup and impressively reversed form with Kit Kat Kid in a Sheffield open.
Mike said: “Charlie Lister really liked the dog and made an offer on behalf of Ray White for £27,500 (that would equate to roughly £46K today). It was too good to turn down and we all know what happened next. Do I regret selling the dog? Never for a minute. It was life changing money for us and we paid off the mortgage with it.”
The Pomfrets moved to Drumbarn in Tipperary in 2002 and in 2006, Mike made a bid of €11K for an unraced pup with an official qualifying time of 30.81 at Thurles. Mike trained the dog himself and had a few shaking their heads when the dog was beaten three lengths on debut in an A5 stake.
He then won his semi final in 29.29 and the final in 28.66. Overnight, the phone didn’t stop ringing with offers to buy . . . . Barnfield On Air.
Mike recalls: “Matt O’Donnell had offered me €25,000 and without realising, had actually been bidding against his own owner, Ray Patterson. But I had previously offered the dog to Sam Poots before he went on holiday for €14,000. I couldn’t sell the dog without at least giving him first option, though I did explain that it obviously couldn’t be at the old price.
“When he returned, I told Sam about the other offers with Ray upping his bid to €125,000 but Sam was determined that Barnfield would be his and we did a deal for €100,000.”
A winner of the Sussex Cup, Blue Square Cup and the Select Stakes, Barnfield On Air set track records at Belle Vue, Coventry, Hove and Walthamstow
The Pomfrets have continued to train and breed a few runners and in 2015 had a particularly prolific winner in Freedom Shadow. In fact despite being a very wide runner, she had a best of 28.68 on her card for 525 and was voted Bitch of the Year at Clonmel.
After retirement, the Pomfrets bred a litter by Confident Rankin, and Mike admits, he wasn’t all that taken with them.
He said: “They weren’t really my kind of pups. I like dogs of 70-72lbs and these looked to be more 66-70lbs.”
Despite their lack of impressive physique the pups still sold and left the premises at around six months old. Last December, Mike spotted one of the dog pups, now called Skirk Abu, at Thurles Sales. The dog won his sales trial in 30.10 but failed to make his €4,000 reserve.
It is now history that Skirk Abu (who actually made 71lbs) subsequently trialled impressively at Shelbourne, changed hands for good money, had a name change to Ballyanne Sim, and on Saturday landed the Irish Derby Final.
Mike said: “I wasn’t that surprised that he didn’t make €4,000 at Thurles, but it is a notoriously difficult track to judge. For a start, the ‘525’ is actually 531 yards, hence the going allowance always being built in. But then if the track is actually running slow on any given day, it can throw off your judgement.
“We had another litter out of the dam, by Skywalker Puma. They weren’t very big either and it was a difficult birth. Shadow had to have a caesarian, so it wouldn’t have been fair to breed with her again. She was put up for re-homing and is apparently now living as a pet in Germany.”
Mike said: “I have been lucky to be associated with some top class dogs but that is the great thing about greyhound breeding. In horseracing, the ‘little guy’ has no chance of getting the best stock. In greyhound racing, if you use a bit of judgement and get a lot of luck, it is possible for anyone to get a champion.”
