“I’ve called in the vet, we knew it yesterday. She can’t carry on. I’m gonna go now before I start baulling. How did I ever become this fucking soft.”
The usually witty, cocky, wide-up merchant Rab McNair was struggling to get the words out as he shared the news on Friday afternoon that he was, unfortunately, going to have the great Skate On put to sleep. Thirteen last August, her health had deteriorated badly in recent weeks and she was owed one final compassionate act – writes Floyd Amphlett.
Hang around this industry for any length of time and you will learn that greyhounds often change lives. Sometimes massively! Yet in more than 60 years surrounded by the longtails, none has had a greater effect on Rab and Liz McNair’s life than Skate On.
The August ’10 daughter of Cashen Legend and Grannys Image was bred by John Corbett from Limerick and began her UK racing career with Mick Walsh at Newcastle for whom she reached the finals of the Puppy Plate at Sunderland and Scurry at Belle Vue.
She joined the McNairs and the KSS Syndicate in November 2012 and won her first race for them, a heat of the 2012 Oaks at Wimbledon. She eventually reached the final and led before being hauled in by kennelmate Droopys Hope.
But it was when she was switched back to sprinting, that along with kennelmate Wee Tiger Tots, the brindle excelled, breaking track records at Nottingham, Wimbledon and Yarmouth. (How the McNairs would have loved that pair on the flaps!)
Skate On went to traps for the last time in July 2015, and fittingly ended her racing career with a sprint open race win at Towcester.
Three months later she produced her first litter, by Tullymurry Act.
It included Greyhound of the Year King Elvis, National Sprint winner Queen Anna and Bedfordshire Mini Derby winner Queen Adele. All bar one of the litter of ten (Elvis was the only male) won opens. The exception was Watchall Winnie who didn’t, but went on to throw Cat One winner Watchhall Sid.
The second litter was by a former kennelmate and another hound who cut his teeth in graded company at Newcastle, Eden The Kid.
Generally, as might be expected from a son of Westmead Hawk, the ‘Eden kids’ were stronger running sorts than the Tullymurrys. The fastest dog in the litter was King Sheeran, a 27.96 trialist at Monmore who won the Trafalgar Cup broke a hock at 19 months old, but returned to reach a 2019 Derby semi final, along with sister Queen Beyonce.
Sheeran also won a British bred Derby, the Olympic and finished runner-up in an Eclipse. He also led home a littermate 1-2-3 in the 2019 Produce Stakes from brothers, Kings: Cash and Dylan. Along with brothers Lennon and Diamond, they contested more than a dozen Cat One final.
Skate On’s next litter were sired by another KSS hound, Leamaneigh Turbo. The males in particular were more sprinty. The females included Queen Lilly, who contested the BGRF British Bred Sprint final where brothers King Drake and King Bruno took the forecast with King Sam also in the field.
The real star though was Queen Jessiej, winner of the 2020 Produce Stakes and beaten odds-on favourite in the Monmore Puppy Derby and, like her mum, second in the Oaks.
If Skate On hadn’t delivered enough, her daughters, Queens Beyonce and Jessiej, have taken the line to a whole new level.
Although their first litters only turned two years old last month, Beyonce’s first batch includes Derby favourite King Memphis who led home the littermate tricast in the English Puppy Derby final from Kings Capaldi and Combs.
Queen Jessiej’s first litter includes the Produce and British Bred Derby winner Queen Joni.
For the last seven or eight years though, the British Dam of the Year (2017-2020 -inclusive) has also boasted another title VIP (Very Important Pet) with a throne in front of the McNair’s hearth.
It’s going to seem a very empty spot for many a night to come.
But it looks a pretty safe bet that that particular granny will be remembered on a few more occasions in the months to come!
