People have started to ask me if I feel under pressure about having two runners in the Derby semi finals. The answer is ‘no’ not really. I may feel a bit nervous on Saturday night, but I don’t want that transmitting to my dogs. When I talk to my dogs on parade, I tell them they are champions. I might be mad, but that is how I do it.
But we already feel like winners. We’ve won a few Category One races along the way, but having two pups that we bred and reared ourselves in the Derby semi finals beats everything else we have achieved in dog racing.
It is absolutely on a different level.
That is the reason that we go into the weekend feeling pretty calm. Yes, it could get better, and we could get one or two to the final, or even better still. . . . but for Liz and I – and I know I am also speaking for Brendan and Simon who finance and support the whole operation – we have already achieved something special.
It is so much more satisfying to have brought these pups into the world and seen them progress so far, than win any race with a dog that you might have bought for £20-30,000. This is the English Derby – in my opinion, the greatest greyhound competition in the world. Going forward is all bonus.
If we are eliminated, it will hurt, and I certainly don’t want any reporter coming to ask be about it straight after the race. I’ll shake hands with those who are still in it and wish them the best.
I will then spend a bit of time in my own thoughts. Then on the long drive home, Liz and I will reflect on what we have achieved. Providing that the dogs don’t get hurt, we’ll put the thing to bed, and remember how blessed we are in life in general with our kids and grand kids and hope we will be back another day. So there really is no pressure
Anyway – we are not at that position just yet!
Looking at the draw for both semi finals, I was worried that someone would accuse me of fiddling the trap draw. Whatever the results, I couldn’t have asked for two better draws.
I think Sheeran has been a bit overshadowed by his sister. But to get a dog whose career looked over after he broke a hock on the same track, through to a Derby semi final just five races later, is too ridiculous to talk about.
I thought he ran a stormer to come from last place at the first bend in his quarter final.
Everybody knows, I think trap six is a bad box at this level of ability at Nottingham. It is nearly impossible to get around the railers at the first bend. Looking at this race, there is a ton of early pace on the inside and something will have to give. I have no idea what will happen because I think you could run the same race six times and get six different sets of race positions going to the first bend.
Magical Bale was brilliant in the quarter finals and I reckon he is better off in two than one, because I think he will move to the middle. But trapping as quickly from five as he did from blue is no ‘given’. Will Expert produce another quick break? If Bale misses it slightly, Ballyanne Sim has enough ability to cut across all of them on the run to the bend. At least that is how I see it.
It usually happens that when you actually want a dog to come out slowly, they usually ping the lids. But I would love to see Sheeran trailing the field going to the first bend because I think trouble is inevitable and I think he would come across to rail behind them.
If you offered me fourth place not too far behind the leader at the second bend I would take it now because I think Sheeran runs the third bend better than any dog in the Derby and I think he can back-run some of those in front.
As for Beyonce, she just takes my breath away and has since the very first race of her career as an 18 month old pup.
A couple of races later, Tony Collett said to me, “she is probably the fastest bitch I have ever seen at Central Park”. When she ran at Hove, Derek Knight said: “I wanted to see her run because I had heard so much about her and she is one of the finest bitches I have ever seen”.
Then after Nottingham, Charlie Lister phoned and said he thought she was one of the best bitches he has seen in many years. What do you say when three such top greyhound men come out with those sort of statements?
She has an exceptional attitude and just doesn’t get phased by anything. It might be her background. She was the only bitch in the litter with seven brothers but never once did I see her bullied in the paddocks. If anything the opposite was true. She will mix it with the dogs at the bend, no worries.
There is also something about her breeding. She is the perfect combination. Skate On was incredibly brave and never held back going into a bend. But Beyonce also has the trackcraft of her father Eden The Kid and grandfather Westmead Hawk. I think the quarter final run was the best of her career. Every time I watch the replay I think to myself, ‘this was a Derby quarter final field up against two of the best dogs in Ireland.’
I guess my face showed how I felt after the race. Going into that third bend I remember thinking, ‘don’t mess this up, you could check up, lose you momentum and then get outrun to the line’. I should have known better. Typical female, she loves putting me through a drama.
Looking at the draw, she has trap two again which appears ideal. Obviously if the red traps at his best, we wouldn’t want him on our inside at the first bend, but if she can get a clear run, we’ll take our chances.
We are thinking no further than Saturday. I have been in the game long enough to know that it can all still go wrong. But we are still there with the two wee pups that we brought into the world and all of us are loving every minute.
