Liz and Rab McNair enjoyed their most successful year ever and saw it crowned off with King Sheeran taking the 2019 Coral Olympic title.
The brindle trapped slowly but showed his characteristic early pace to take the lead at the first bend and then pull away from a three length win over litter brother King Dylan with Desperado Dan spoiling the prial of Kings by finishing third.
Assistant trainer Rab McNair said: “I thought it was Dylan’s to win at the first bend but Sheeran was magnificent once again.”
It was a third Cat 1 win in 2019 for the dog whose career appeared to be over when he broke a hock at Nottingham in October 2018.
The Hove victory was doubly symbolic for the kennel as it catapulted Sheeran above Ice On Fire as the leading GBGB open race points scorer.
In some years, Sheeran’s exploits would give him a strong chance of the Greyhound of the Year title (it has been won on the back of two Cat 1 wins in the past). Rab McNair accepts that Ice On Fire is the overwhelming favourite for the GOY title, but is unhappy at the voting procedure.
He said: “The way the rules are, he won’t even get nominated in the final six. We had it last year with King Turbo. Dorotas Wildcat won the ‘standard’ class and was in the six alongside the top sprinter, stayer, marathon dog, hurdler and bitch. He won four Category One races and didn’t make the last six.
“I can imagine the same thing again with Sheeran. Does he not deserve to be considered among the top six dogs of the year? Why is the leading British bred award given so little credit? I can’t imagine a British bred dog ever getting Ireland’s top award. Over here, the press think it is worth less than being the top hurdler. It is disgraceful”
Liz McNair finished on 631 points last year. In 2019, with fancied runners in the last open race of the year tonight at Central Park, she has already gone through the 900 points barrier.
Rab said: “As far as I can remember, each of the last two years every one of our points has been scored by dogs who we bred here ourselves. For a long time, I’ve had an ambition to win the (Gain Nutrition) Trainers Championship meeting with eight greyhounds we have bred ourselves.”
