PROFILE: JIMMY WRIGHT

“I only ever had two hobbies, and I made careers out of both of them.”

It must be something in coal dust that produces footballers and dog men. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the pits are in Yorkshire, the North East or north of Hadrians Wall, they have always churned out a regular supply of both.

For Jimmy Wright, from Lochgelly in Fife on the Scottish east coast, his loyalties were always divided.

His dad was a miner and had greyhounds and would race at Cowdenbeath where Jimmy’s training career started early.

He said: “I was originally parading them, but the track’s owner was a bookie at Powderhall and used to get me some of the ex-open racers for me to run on his track. I was about 12 at the time.”

 

For a period of time though, greyhounds would have to take second place to Jimmy’s football ambitions. At 16, the tricky winger signed for Leeds United.

Those of us of a certain vintage could probably rattle off the names of the all conquering (dirty) Leeds team of 1973/74 led by Don Revie: Terry Cooper, Alan Clarke, Jack Charlton, Paul Reeney, Norman (bites yer legs) Hunter, Johnny Giles, and of course Billy Bremner.

There was a good solid ‘Jock’ base to the team, which might have helped a Scottish teenager, except. . .

“I could play either wing, but the two wingers in the Leeds team were Eddie Gray and Peter Lorimer who were both Scottish internationals.”

After three seasons, Jimmy left and played around 30 games for St. Johnstone where his teammates included Ally McCoist.

He said: “I was in dispute with St.Johnstone and spent a season at Hearts, but they were in relegation trouble and had to choose between myself or Billy Johnson.

“He was more experienced so understandably they chose him. But the manager, the former Newcastle player Bobby Moncur, set me up with a contract with West Adelaide in South Australia.

“I spent three and a half years there and loved it. It was a decent standard, a lot of top players including Graham Souness, Justin Fashanu and George Best spent some time there.

“I did three seasons but had to come back because my father was dying with motor neurone disease. I intended to go back but it never happened.”

 

Although coming towards the end of his career Jimmy began to play ‘junior football’, the Scottish equivalent of ‘non league’.

The players were semi professional and Jimmy played for Hill of Beath Hawthorn. In 1990, for the only time in the club’s history they won the biggest prize in that level of football, the Scottish Junior Cup (first staged in 1886 and the equivalent to England’s FA Trophy).

But greyhounds were never far far away. Jimmy became a regular name in the Star’s ‘independent’ pages during the 1990s (along with a guy called Rab McNair), and in 1999 the kennel landed our ‘Independent Greyhound of the Year’ title with a dog called Copperfield Tim.

The brindle made eight major finals that year and won the Pitmans Derby at Wishaw and the Autumn Cup at Armadale. He usually ran under the name ‘Lucky’ and there was a reason for that.

Jimmy said: “He was bought with a dog who cost six grand who didn’t turn out. Lucky cost £800 and was just brilliant for us. I think he won 52 opens that year.”

Jimmy’s introduction to NGRC racing came when he was asked to become head lad to well known owner and businessman, Graham Hutt.

Jimmy said: “He built a new kennel in Kinross, it was a beautiful place and the best of facilities.”

The kennel had some high calibre owners including ex-Rangers player turned successful businessman Billy Steele (who had been a joint owner in Lucky) plus Mark Keightley and David Smiley. When that trio arrived in their betting boots, bookmakers were known to turn pale.

Jimmy said: “We had a very strong kennel. I think we won the Armadale Derby five times with dogs like Droopys Toby who was a prolific winner for us on the flaps.”

Hutt’s business went through some turbulent times and Jimmy spent ten months working for Mark and Hayley Keightley.

He said: “It was their very early days and the star of the kennel was Roxholme Girl who was a great bitch.”

Jimmy returned to Kinross for another eight years. Then in 2009 an opportunity came up to take over the license of Newcastle trainer Andrew Bell, and he wasn’t alone.

Jimmy said: “I had met Angela (Harrison) who was working for Paul Rutherford and we moved into the place we are at now, in Annan around 30 miles north of Newcastle.”

 

Gambling played a major part in earning a living during Jimmy’s flapping days. Is there one gamble that particularly springs to mind?

Jimmy said: “It would have been about 1999. Lucky had just won the Pitmans Derby and we took him to Hinckley for a ‘top grade’ race where you could run without a trial.

“At least we assumed it was a graded race. Billy Steele, Mark Keightley and, David Smiley, some of the biggest hitters on the independent scene were all there to back Lucky.

“We had a ‘jockey’ take him in and the first show was 4-1. The lads kept going in and backed him down to 1-3f.

“The race started and Lucky, who ran as Jumper’ on the night was in second place as they came off the second bend. I started shouting and a guy next to me said, ‘you won’t pick him up mate, he’s a Scurry winner’

“Lucky ran a brilliant race to get up by a short head on the winning line. After the race we put all the winnings on a big table. It was the biggest pile of ten and twenty pounds notes I had ever seen.

“I remember you ran a story in the Star about the huge gamble that was pulled off at Hinckley.”

 

Jimmy and Angela started out with just four dogs but the big race wins were soon flowing.

Within weeks they picked up the 2009 Cock O’The North with Hurleys Hero. Just a month later it was the £20K William Hill Grand Prix with Crown Joker who ended the year by adding a £5,000 Christmas Festival 630 at Monmore – and then began 2010 by taking the Queen Mother Cup at Sheffield.

And so the big races kept coming, the 2010 Grand Prix with England Expects and the Manchester Puppy Cup with Borna Coin, plus a raiding trip to the distant south to take the 2011 Champion Stakes at Romford with Droopys Hester.

But that win would mark a change in strategy for the kennel who wouldn’t been seen with a major open race win until early 2014.

Jimmy said: “Angela and I talked about it and decided we wanted to build our strength at Newcastle in both numbers and quality. Although we had the occasional open racer, we were off the scene for about two and a half years.”

The self imposed exile came to an end in 2014 as Akerview Gem landed a bitch’s stake at Sheffield.

But it would the kennel’s next major win, back where they started, in the Cock O’The North, that would prove so significant. The winner was Airmount Paco. The owners were ‘the Conlon Family’.

Jimmy said: “Neil is a successful local businessman who had dogs with Craig Dawson and asked if I would take them. I wasn’t comfortable doing that, but I told him that I would love to train greyhounds for him. Could we source some new dogs?

“I bought Paco from the Kiely family and it all went from there. It was a game changer for the kennel. Neil and Kath are so easy to train for, they don’t interfere but come along to support their dogs.

“Sean and Michael (Dunphy) have sent a continuous supply of top class dogs. I think we have won 14 or 15 Cat One races for them. We have been very lucky.”

 

Jimmy will openly tell you that Rab McNair – who hails from an Ayrshire mining background – is his best friend in the world. He will also tell you about a great rivalry with the world’s maddest Scotsman.

Jimmy said: “I knew Rab on the flaps, but we were usually in opposition to each other. He trained for Grant McIntosh, I trained for some serious dog men too and there was a lot at stake. To talk about winning to pay the rent or put food on the table wasn’t an exaggeration.”

But you put two competitive guys together and sometimes it will overspill, particularly when one of them is an Olympic standard wind-up merchant.

Jimmy said: “Rab beat us in a Derby quarter final one night and he wouldn’t let it go. He kept winking at me at the pick-up, with a few words to go with it. I admit it, I bit.

“It took me three years to get by one back with a cracking little dog called Droopys Kentucky.

“I stood at the pick-up jeering at him and making myself look an arse. People were walking off going ‘what the f…. just got into Jimmy?’”

It was the McNair effect.

However, the revenge was reversed in an incident mentioned by Rab in his column last year.

The pair, with their partners, were on holiday in Benidorm. As Jimmy walked between Rab and the pool he was knocked sideways and into the deep end, complete with a pocket full of money and mobile phone.

Jimmy said: “The first thing he said was ‘that was for Shawfield’. Twenty years ago we had been trialling dogs and running to the pick-up when I stuck my foot out to trip him up.

“It had been pouring with rain and the grandstand started to cheer when he slid across the clay. He was completely embarrassed but waited 20 years to get his revenge.”

There are times though, when even Jimmy wonders whether he has bitten off more than he can chew.

He said: “I was with Rab and Dan Brabon in Spain when we walked past a place doing archery for the holiday makers. I challenged both of them and with my first arrow hit the centre of the bulls-eye.

“They both gave me abuse but they didn’t realise that I am from a poaching background and was always pretty good with a bow and arrow. Rab had his go and missed the target completely.

“We got to the last round and I got another bulls-eye and won a little trophy.

“I gave out a bit to McNair but as I looked up, he had a bow pulled back and was aiming straight at me. I froze. Now these were proper heavy bows. An arrow would go straight through you.

“Rab had the mad eyes on and a big smile and all I was thinking was ‘what the f..k!!’.

“Suddenly he laughed and fired the arrow in the other direction. Sometimes I really wonder about him. He’s nuts.”

We know Jimmy!

 

The name ‘Jimmy Wright’ stopped appearing on racecards back in 2016 following an incident at Newcastle. It was without doubt the low point of his career.

He said: “There was a trial session before an evening BAGS meeting and Shellam Delano broke a hock in an early trial. I didn’t think much of it, but the lad came in and said, ‘That track isn’t safe. It hasn’t been tyre packed properly.

“I went out and checked it myself and it was a disgrace. The sand was moving at the bends and the dogs were slipping. I saw another dog come off injured and said, ‘that’s it, there will be no more of my dogs running tonight’ and I withdrew my runners.

“I was on the way home when I took a call from the stipe Alex McTaggart who said, he had been told that I had been sacked. I then took a call from the track saying I would have no more runners.

“I was furious with William Hill and the people making the decisions for them. As far as I was concerned, they were putting the welfare of my dogs second. That was never going to be allowed to happen. There were five dogs who trialled that night who never raced again.

“I spent five weeks without a runner. The GBGB offered to help pay for biscuit for the dogs but I refused to take their money. I paid for them myself. Eventually we had the enquiry and I was completely exonerated. The GBGB knew I had acted in the dog’s best interests.

“I did consider going to another track but I had four staff and they would have lost their jobs. So in the end I took a back seat and Angela took over the license at Newcastle.

“I don’t have a single regret and I couldn’t wait to see the back of William Hill and the people who worked for them.

“I can’t imagine that situation ever being allowed to happen again. The GBGB just wouldn’t stand for it in my opinion.”

 

So – after all the decent hounds that has passed through his fingers, we asked Jimmy to nominate his Magnificent Seven. So, in reverse order:

DROOPYS LIVE – “She was magnificent last year and seemed to get better as she got older. She was certainly never more consistent with 20 wins in the year with the highlight being the win in the Doncaster St.Leger

“She is retired now and we are waiting for her to come into season. When she does she will be going to Droopys Buick.

DROOPYS HESTER – “He was a top class dog who won a Champion Stakes at Romford and was a consistent 28.20 dog at Newcastle before the new sand was laid.

“Unfortunately he died of cancer just three weeks after the Romford win. We were all devastated, he was such a favourite in the kennels. It took a long time to get over it.”

DROOPYS VERVE – “He has been an unlucky dog. He won the All England Cup and Dundalk International, was second in an Eclipse and English Derby and beaten favourite in a Scottish Derby.

“But he has had his problems. He had a problem with a toe joint which I persevered with but should have had taken off. His form also dipped after going to Ireland, I have no idea why.

“He was absolutely flying in trials before the Coronavirus and was being prepared for the English Derby. Hopefully we will eventually get him back on the track.”

CROWN ROVER – “He will always have a special place in our hearts as our first Category One winner in the Grand Prix at Sunderland.

“But it wasn’t just the wins, he was so consistent over such a long period of time. I lost count of how many major finals he made.”

DROOPYS EXPERT – “He won an All England Cup and reached an English Derby Final and broke 28.00 at Newcastle. Not bad for a dog who lacked a yard of early and was troubled by a shoulder problem. What middle pace he had though.

“The best memory though would have to be the Trainers Championship meeting. It was the final leg and we needed Expert to win and he didn’t let us down.

“He has been standing at stud with Ron Grey, but hasn’t been serving bitches so is due to come home and live in the house.”

WALSHES HILL – “We absolutely love this dog. He already lives in the house with us.

“As a racing dog, he was the most consistent greyhound I ever handled. (38 wins from 47 races). The highlight was the Scurry when he seemed to be past his best.

“We had thought of using him at stud but the right bitch never came along. That doesn’t matter though.”

DROOPYS BUICK – “What a greyhound he was. He won the William Hill Puppy Plate, the Newcastle Puppy Derby, the Eclipse, the Olympic, and my personal favourite the Ladbrokes Gold Cup at Monmore.

“He was coming towards the end of his career and he clocked 27.63 in the final.

“He never ran Towcester but reached two Scottish Derby Finals unbeaten but drew traps four and five in the final.

“He has made a great start to his stud career and it was a privilege to train him.”

 

So how does Jimmy see the short and long term prospects?

He said: “We are getting on fine here. The owners are paying the bills and although it is a bit frustrating at the lack of racing, we can’t complain.

“Of the staff, only David Gowerd doesn’t live on site. He has been with me for 11 years and we have so much space here we can leave him to get on with it without a virus risk.

“That leaves Anna Barber, the head girl, Ryan Bucton, Ian Sutherland, Angela and myself to do the dogs.

“We have some good young dogs in the kennel and are just qualifying Droopys Benz’s first litter (by Dorotas Wildcat) with another litter (by Laughil Blake) about nine months old.

“Move Over Evie has just been covered by Droopys Trapeze and we have Droopys Live to look forward to. I am happy enough.”