Have you ever noticed how the antis rely on old photos or videos or memories to try to make greyhound racing seem brutal? I grew up in a time and place when they really would have had something to shout about.
I was bought up in a Scottish pit village where greyhounds were treated as working dogs – not pets. If a miner prepared a dog to win a race, put his money down and the dog did something like fight when he could have won, the dog would have been away to the vets the next morning. There was no room for ‘passengers’.
It sounds brutal and it was. These miners, in Scotland, the North East and Yorkshire had tough, tough lives; the sort that these antis couldn’t even begin to imagine. They slogged their guts out to feed their families and the greyhound was expected to pay his way. People had different attitudes to animals back then. A sheepdog that couldn’t be trusted not to bite the sheep would be taken to a corner of a field and shot.
Simple everyday life was a struggle, not that we knew any better. We slept four in a bed and in the winter would wake up with ice on the inside of the windows. At the weekends, my brother and I would take three lurchers are catch a couple of hares for dinner. We would scavenge at the colliery for coal for the fire. We were well loved and well fed, but it was a tough life.
My father was part of that. He used to say, ‘don’t get too attached to them Rab. They are here to do a job.’ I thought about him looking at the old brood Shaws Dilemma the other day. In our house, once she couldn’t produce any more pups, she would have been gone. No passengers.
I should make it clear, I am not trying to excuse or justify how it was. That is how it was – live with it.
So I look around now, at how far the game has come, and it all seems like a lifetime away. If my dad was around now, looking at the corner of the field with the graves of the pensioners, often with a few flowers laid on the top by Liz, he would say ‘you silly old bastard, you’ve gone soft’.
It’s true, I don’t mind admitting it. Having all the pups and watching them grow up has made me even softer. But I can understand in Peter Rosney’s story last week about changing cultures. I would be willing to bet that some of the trainers who had routinely put dogs to sleep were from similar backgrounds as myself.
I want to make this clear – it is no longer acceptable that dogs are just put to sleep. The antis might want to read that twice in case they struggle to understand what I am saying.
Society has moved on. But trainers should be given a chance to change. If they are warned and refused, then pull their licence, no argument. The industry can’t be bought down by the few.
Now I know that the forums can’t wait to get stuck into Mark Bird (GBGB Managing Director). I spoke to the owner of one the other day who admitted it. Well for the record, I think Mark is doing a brilliant job. I mean it. He is playing catch-up from a bunch of tossers who haven’t taken the game forward in 30 years.
If I could change anything, I would like to see him get tougher on the tracks, not just the trainers. The tracks have always thought that they are above the rules. But this game to thrive, GBGB has to be seen to be fair. There are some tracks which still aren’t properly maintained and they have the injury records to prove it. Get stuck into them.
Some racing managers rely on first bend trouble, often caused by bad banking so they don’t have too many winning favourites. There is no need for it. I was brought up on the flaps where the grader had to be an expert on getting dogs beaten without seeing them knocked over or injured.
It is a tremendous skill in itself. Somebody like Peter O’Dowd, who was a great racing manager, would have earned a living on the flaps knowing how to get dogs beaten when the lads were trying to pull strokes.
Most importantly, they wouldn’t even have known he had done it . . . . . until it was too late.
I am really excited about the weekend and taking King Turbo to Monmore for the Gold Cup Final.
It isn’t just the race itself, I am looking forward to the whole evening. My old mate Jimmy (Wright) will be there, ‘Big John’ Mullins, Patrick (Janssens), Mark (Wallis), all of them. I love the banter when they all get together. The Monmore staff are brilliant too. Nothing is too much trouble.
I can honestly say that I don’t feel under any pressure. We know Turbo is coming to the end of his career. There is nothing left to prove. This will be his ninth category one final – not bad for a dog some reckoned was too dodgy to run in a Derby.
I am delighted with the draw. To be honest, I think he should get a better run than in the semi finals when he ran from trap three. Forest Jason (T1) is a tremendous dog and took the rail off him before Droopys Aussie (T4) outran him close home. . .
If Turbo can dominate the inside, I think he should win it. He is certainly giving all the right vibes.
He is a bit of a character. When he is feeling good about himself, he gets a bit cheeky. You talk to him and he looks the other way, just peeping out of the corner of his eye. I know what he is thinking. ‘I’m an old hand at this. I’ve seen it and done it mate.’
Cocky little bastard – I don’t know where he gets it from!
The other place I have been this week is Doncaster. We had two winners with Queen Cher and Queen Franklin in the British Bred Oaks.
I wasn’t sure Cher would see out the distance because it was her first run since the Produce Stakes Final but she battled away. As for Queen Franklin, well what can you about a puppy in her seventh race without a look at the track?
It is a five hour trip to Doncaster but it has to be one of the friendliest tracks I ever visit. Everybody is so welcoming, the place was immaculate and the running surface was absolutely perfect.
Bring on the semis!
