We have now shown seven of the top ten moments experienced in greyhound racing by our three columnists.
Before we publish their top three, we continue with the top five worst moments in the sport. As you will learn, they are perhaps even more revealing than the high spots.
GRAHAM HOLLAND Probably the biggest disappointment in a race was the 2008 Irish Cesarewitch at Mullingar. We won both semi finals with Farloe Jester and Hondo Dingle and fancied our chances in the final. Farloe Jester managed to get his muzzle caught in the traps and Hondo Dingle missed his break and found trouble. They came home fifth and sixth. It was a very long journey home.
MARK WALLIS Winners are part of the game but so are losers. You shouldn’t be in the sport if you can’t take a beating. It hits all of us in different ways. Fortunately I have a poker player’s mentality. Once you have given yourself a few hours to get over a loss, you are thinking about the next winner and having a big kennel, that opportunity might be the next day. In terms of defeats, I think the worst was Aero Nemesis going out of the 2014 English Derby in the semi finals.
If you remember the dog had gone into the first round at around 125-1. As he kept winning, the price kept tumbling, 66-1, 33-1, 10-1.
He was unbeaten in the competition with wins in 28.40, and 28.28 and then went into the third round and three runs in a week. He won on the Saturday in 28.32, and again in the quarter finals in 28.37 and I was convinced he could win the event outright. He was now the 7-2 Derby favourite.
Nemesis cracked out in his semi, led into the backstraight, and then did what marathon runners are sometimes prone to do – he hit ‘the wall’.
He went backwards from the third bend and eventually finished fourth. I was absolutely gutted.
We took him back the following week for the invitation. He won it in 28.28 which was quicker than both the Derby Final (28.38) and the Plate (28.35).
PAT ROSNEY Excluding careers ruined by injuries, perhaps the unluckiest dog I have handled was probably Bower Hawk.
![BOWER HAWK Pic Steve Nash](https://i0.wp.com/greyhoundstar.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Bower-Hawk-TC-head-1024x928.jpg?resize=1024%2C928)
BOWER HAWK Pic Steve Nash
He was an incredibly good stayer who ran second to Droopys Bradley in the St. Leger at Wimbledon. He was second, beaten a length by Blonde Fletch in the Regency, and second beaten a head, by the same dog in the Grand Prix at Sunderland.
But the race that still haunts me was the 2010 Doncaster St.Leger. He had been absolutely flying to take the lead at the last bend when he was knocked over and beaten a distance.
He was a top class greyhound and deserved to be retired with a big race to his name.