A tribute by Lee Wiffen
We lost a real proper old school dog man today, and a great mate…Roy Coughlan. After a hard apprenticeship with his Uncle Paddy Coughlan, when he was a private trainer for Sir Thomas Houston Boswell, Roy followed Paddy on to Crayford as head man.
Seeing little opportunity to progress at Crayford and ultimately Romford, he took the offer to go to the United Arab Emirates, build a track, stadium and racing strength in the desert to fulfil the ambitions of the ruling sheiks to see dogs run. It was an overwhelming success. Running and keeping dogs in 40c heat is no mean task.
When the time came to retire to Suffolk, and on returning to the UK, he enjoyed a period of time on the GBGB disciplinary committee where his experience understanding the day to day working of a trainer and racing kennel was invaluable.
Roy has struggled bravely over the last two years with cancer in various parts of his body. He was winning that battle when contracting Covid, which became a struggle too far. He is survived by his wife Val and daughters Lynn and Joanne
