Emily Wallis continues her series of articles profiling some of the well known trainers and kennelstaff who make this sport tick. Today, she catches up with veteran Irish handler Seamus Gaughan as he shares some of his observations and experiences in 58 years as a dog man.
Today sees the 80th birthday of one of the friendliest and most shrewd greyhound trainers in the sport, Seamus Gaughan!
Seamus has had a love of watching greyhounds run and the breed since he was 12 and went coursing in Ireland. He has worked in greyhound racing since 1966, fast forward 58 years and he is celebrating a monumental birthday and still loving the sport.
In his kennel, Seamus only keeps around 8-10 dogs at any time but over the years he’s had some fast ones, his favourite to train being March 2004 whelp Larkhill Jim owned by the late Pat Whelan.
Seamus said “Pat was down in the kennels on a Sunday morning, he rang Seamus Graham in Ireland to see if he was bringing Larkhill Jim over for the Derby. The reply was ‘no’ because he thought if there was a bus in front of him he would have run into it!”
“Pat said to send the dog over and we’ll see what happens. In just his second race in the UK we went to Wimbledon and he was against the St Leger winner trained by Charlie Lister. Jim popped out and beat him by a head at 10/1, we had a great gamble on him that night.”
On the dog Seamus said, “Don’t get me wrong, he had to have everything his own way,” but that didn’t stop him from reaching the 2006 Derby semi-finals where there was another gamble landed when he won his third round heat.
He was knocked out at the semi-final stage in a race won by a certain Westmead Hawk – this Derby campaign is what Seamus describes as one of his greatest career achievements.
Seamus Gaughan and Nick Savva chat to Tony Wehby (right) whose company built Towcester’s grandstand and is tasked with the construction of the new greyhound track at Towcester. Photo: Steve Nash
Over his many years in the sport, Seamus has seen many changes. Some of the biggest of those being the amount of racing – “It doesn’t give the track staff enough time to prepare the running surfaces properly.”
“Appearance money must be the biggest joke since I started training, trainers with more dogs get paid more than those with less. I believe there should be no appearance money but every dog in the race should get £100.”
As well as this Seamus describes the challenge now of being able to bet his dogs. He said “A couple of weeks ago I had three dogs running on the same night, I tried to have a £200 treble…the most I could get on was £4.50.”
Despite this, the love for the sport is still clear to see – “I still get such a buzz from the sport, it is a great feeling seeing your dogs reach their full potential especially as I usually get them from 12 months old, so seeing them win is a great feeling.”
“Greyhounds are the most pleasant animals you could ever have. Each dog has a different personality and, working with them 24/7, you get to know their individual quirks.”
Seamus’ wife Ann travels to the track with him each week to watch the dogs run and it is very much a family affair with his 3 grandsons – Frankie, Patrick and Tommy – all helping at the weekends and most evenings after school.
“Frankie has recently got a paraders license and helps parade the dogs at Towcester. The day he got his license he walked two winners which was a special achievement for him.”
“Patrick helps with the grooming at the kennels and Tommy can’t wait until he turns 15 to get a license, he’s mad to parade the dogs.”
With 3 very keen grandsons, would Seamus like to see them take up the sport full-time eventually?
“Yes, but it’s very hard for a youngster to make it pay. I think the only way it could happen was if we got them involved at an earlier age, we’ve got to follow Ireland and let them parade the dogs at a younger age like 12 or 13.”
But, his 80th birthday doesn’t mean he is giving up his trainer’s license anytime soon with the passion for the sport still shining through.
Finally, when asking for any dogs in the kennel to follow for 2024, I think I knew the answer! Seamus said “Doohoma Princess should make into a top stayer.” She already has a 29.31 on her card for the 500m at Towcester.
“Doohoma Roxie has already been in a £10,000 final and Doohoma Rose is just trialling now so watch out for her!”
Happy birthday Seamus!
PAT MUSTARD with trainer Seamus Gaughan and wife Ann Pic Steve Nash
