We had a good night at Central Park on Sunday, after a less than brilliant week.
Robert McNair esq
It started badly with King Sheeran (5-4) and King Turbo (9-4) getting beat in the British Breeders final at Nottingham. That put me firmly back in my box! If that wasn’t bad enough, ‘Wrighty’ (Jimmy Wright/Angela Harrison) is flying at the moment and overtook us in the Trainers Championship.
As for the winner, it couldn’t have gone to a nicer guy than Big John Mullins. John produced his dog to perfection on the night and best of luck to him.
I’m still to run it past the boss, but I think we will be back at Nottingham for the Eclipse which starts next Monday. I am undecided about what is next for King Turbo.
Although he is has lost a bit of early, the dog has never looked better. Cecil Law (physio) commented on it when he came to see us this week. The dog’s coat is like silk and he is absolutely loving his racing. You know when Turbo is at the top of his game because he loves nothing more than slamming into me when I let him off in the paddock.
I would really like to get him into a few veterans races. Although tracks occasionally advertise them, nobody expects them to fill so nobody enters. Until they become regular events, I wish racing offices would make a few phone calls looking for entries. I am sure lots of kennels would have them.
I am particularly thinking of somewhere like Monmore when they stage those £500 races. So if my old mate Tony Williamson fancies giving me a call, I would do my best to put a van load of entries together, particularly because I would like take a few for the Trafalgar Cup too.”
We have the same issue with puppy races. I often enter the youngsters for puppy races and end up running in maidens. That is okay some of the time, but you can always cop for a decent experienced open racer from Ireland taking an easy option for their first race.
I was looking for puppy opens at Central Park on Sunday but thankfully Queen Dolly (Leamaneigh Turb0-Queen Asia, Jan 18) was good enough to win the top division of the maiden in 29.46 (-30). On the night, her sister Queen Franklin won the bitches final and brother King Louis beat a decent field in the 500 open.
It is interesting because when they were schooled Jeff Sealey said ‘They are okay, but they are not as good as the last lot’. I know what he meant, the sprint times weren’t as quick as the Eden The Kid/Skate On litter. But where the Eden The Kid’s are nearly all bad trappers, the Queen Asia litter can all come away.
That is the great thing about pups, they can always surprise you and they improve at different rates.
At the moment, we have nine coming through, six from the Leamaneigh Turbo litter out of Skate On and three by Eden The Kid out of King Danni. They are all due to have their first four-bend mixed trials this week.
Incidentally, Queen Jessiej trialled around Jeff’s track last week and went quicker than (half brother) King Elvis’s best run there.
It is great to see another British bred competition ready to go and I have entered four for the BGBF Sprint at Harlow on Wednesday.
I have bought Queen Anna and Queen Izzy out of retirement for it, plus Queen Cher and Queen Tammy. Izzy (who was mated, but didn’t get in pup), did 16.54 (calc) and Queen Anna (winner of the 2017 National Sprint) did 16.35 (calc) at Central Park last week
I don’t have many runners at Harlow but there are two main reasons for going. Firstly, I will always try to support any race being staged for British breds. Second, I desperately need to get a few points back on Wrighty!
I love to see long runs to the bend and will be interested to see how Hove get on with their new 500 metre standard distance.
I would rather have it than the 490, providing that they don’t ever do away with the 515. There aren’t enough races with a decent run to the first bend. Central Park run a few 500s, but not enough for my liking, and why don’t Shawfield run more. That 500 metres is a brilliant test of a dog.
I understand that tracks struggle with the longer distances, but one thing I have never understood is why they feel the need to move the traps. Why not move the winning line closer to the last bend?
I have heard all the excuses about being expensive to move the judge’s box, but why do you have to do that? That rule that said the judge’s box needs to be level with the winning line was invented before photo finishes. No racing manager ever calls a result by eye.
While I am on a roll, why have so few tracks got the old heavy curved traps. They were great at Wimbledon, and still are at Central Park and Doncaster.
The reason I ask is this. Apart from being heavy, which kept them stable, they were usually made with the tops of the traps blanked out. That meant, that with the shape, the dogs would squat down to see the hare. I can’t prove it, but there seemed to be less trouble with dogs coming out of the curved traps. Is it because they were better balanced when they came out.
The up-and-over traps at Monmore and Romford are not bad at all. Should we really have starting traps where – all the experts agree – that there is such a thing as a ‘ping box’? Did anyone ever think there was a ‘ping box’ at Wimbledon?
Are we the only industry where technology goes backwards?
I am really going for it now. Delighted to see Nottingham staging the Eclipse, but am a bit disappointed that it is only £6,000 to the winner. Clearly, there must be a limit in what they can get for sponsorship and I am not having a pop at Nottingham in any way.
For the solution, I would go back to my flapping days. I can remember paying £100 to go in the Ashfield Derby 25 years ago. Now I realise some owners or trainers will kick off about paying to run their dogs. But in my experience, I don’t think it would be many.
Of course there is another way of viewing it. Even if you added £3,000 to the winner’s prize and spread the rest among the finalists, that is your first ante post bet of £2,900-£100 if you win the final.
Two lots of good news since the last column starting with confirmation that the Oaks will take place in December.
I expect to have at least four or five in it, and I am hoping Queen Beyonce will be back to her best by then. I have her another sprint trial at Central Park last week and she did 16.37 (-25). She will have another couple of sprints before her first 480.
The other news that has given both Liz and I a massive lift is the news about Towcester. Big Kevin Boothby is one of the top guys in this sport, a proper greyhound man and I am sure he will make a huge success of Towcester.
When I heard the news, I was reminded of my first visit to Wimbledon. It was then year Farloe Melody won it, back in 1992. Way before the place became a toilet. I remember walking into the track and the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. (Not those on your head? – Ed)
The only time I have ever had a similar experience was that night of the second Derby Final at Towcester. It was electric. Unbelievable.
Please God we get to feel that again.
