OUR THIRD BEST MOMENTS

In a series that has extended longer than we had originally planned, we list the third best, or as you can read, ‘most significant’ moments in the greyhound industry as experienced by our three trainer columnists. We present three life changing events . .

 

PAT ROSNEY:

Landing a training contract at Monmore was a significant life changer for Julie and myself. I came from a flapping background and had struggled to get a licence from the NGRC. We had been at Belle Vue for a year or so, but for one reason or another, we weren’t happy. So we couldn’t believe our luck when we were given a chance by Monmore. We jumped at it.

In our five years at Monmore between 2003 and 2007, we had many great nights and lots of new owners come into the kennel. Many of them are still with us. I even had the bonus of landing the jackpot on a couple of occasions, including one for over £26,000. In the end, we didn’t want to continue with contract training. The BAGS schedule travelling up and down the M6 was was very demanding.

But it was very rewarding too. We saved like mad during our spell there and it gave us a chance to pay off the mortgage on the house and kennels and the security that that brought. Julie and I have very fond memories of Monmore and the staff and trainers.

GRAHAM HOLLAND

We bred two really nice pups out of One For Tarbert. Cracker won the Tony Morris Final on Derby Final in England. His litter brother was called Outlaw Spice Boy who I decided to enter in the 2000 Irish Derby. I brought him over to Ireland and we stayed with Lionel Mannering in Cashel. I was getting disillusioned with racing in England and loved every minute of being in Ireland. I realised that it was where I wanted to spend my future and discussed it with Nicki. She agreed and before you knew it, our lives had been transformed. In fact, Nicki’s first ever visit to Ireland was to go house hunting.

MARK WALLIS

After the stunning season in 2012 you could expect us to have had a decent 2013 but you could say it all went wrong. A few notable retirees like Blonde Snapper, Blonde Fletch, Jazz Apollo and Lil Risky were always going to be hard to replace but serious injuries to the likes of Castlebride Dan, Glanmire Lad and Garryglass Rodge never helped either.

In the summer we were rocked by the news that Mark Currell was taking a break from the sport and over a dozen of his string, which represented almost 20% of our kennel had to be sold on quickly. We didn’t have a great Derby with Carkei Max over achieving to make the quarter finals, and in June/July we seemed to have a bug in the kennel and we had the worse run of results that I can remember.

It seemed like the press found our kennel unfashionable as the emphasis was on others and the expected avalanche of new owners after the previous season never materialised. At one point in July I seriously considered packing up as our business was down to about 36 paying customers and I owned (sometimes because owners disappeared and left us with dogs unpaid for) many of our 50 odd dogs in the kennel. We was losing well over a grand a week and it couldn’t go on for much longer or we would have gone bankrupt.

Te forums were attacking me and the amount of abuse I was getting was unfair,  personal and very hurtful after all we had achieved the previous years. I admit to being guilty of maybe taking my eye off the ball as I had taken on a roll in the GBGB on a committee which was taking up so much time and was heavily involved in the politics of the sport through GOBATA/GTA in trying to help trainers achieve a better deal. To be honest many of these trainers I was trying to help were revelling in what was seen as our kennels demise.

I saw the light and gave up these committees and in July started to focus on rebuilding our kennel. Hometown Honey’s dead heat in the William Hill Grand Prix in late July was a start but by the middle of August we were sitting in 4th place in the Trainer Of The Year standings. Quotes from sponsors Ladbrokes of 33/1 should have been taken as we began to move in the right direction. Mark Currell’s Blonde Razor and particularly Adageo Bob (formerly Blonde Bobby) who the forums attacked saying I was selling expensive graders were brought by Dick and Ann Barfoot.

Bob replayed the faith by winning the British Bred Stakes at Nottingham a few weeks later. In early November we were still 10/1 to win the title with Charlie Lister, Paul Young and Chris Allsopp still in front of us. But the kennel was on fire: Bridge Honcho was awesome (another just outside my top 10) winning the Eclipse in scintillating fashion and step up Reel Trickyone and Adageo Bob who lit up the all important Coral Essex Vase

With us passing Paul Young and Chris Allsopp dropping out the race Charlie Lister stood in our way of a dramatic fight back, he paid a rare visit to Romford and had two class acts in the final. If he finished in front of us the title was surely his with only 20 odd days to go in the season. Real Trickyone ran the race of his life having only come into the event because I begged Peter O Dowd to put him in. He raced into an early lead, and more importantly the emerging Adageo Bob had turned a handy second. He was almost acting as a goalkeeper, blocking Charlie’s two runners.

They crossed the line in front for a brilliant 1-2 scoring over 70 points for us and we hit the front a day later when Murlens Crash took a category 2 at Crayford. We couldn’t stop having winners for the rest of the month and was actually well clear by December 31st

Truly a remarkable comeback from adversity and one that stuck two fingers up to all those critics. The standing ovation I received at the awards bash the next month was perhaps one of my proudest moments and dare I say it – well deserved?