How Greyhound Ownership Started.
In late 2004 I went in to the William Hill at Moortown Corner in Leeds and bumped in to Colin Wilton who I hadn't seen for about 20 years. I knew Colin from Stainbeck school and both him and his wife Diane from going to the Elland Road Greyhound stadium in the late 70's and early 80's.
Colin and Diane used to live in Garforth where Dawn and myself lived and occasionally we'd meet up there. We lost touch when they moved to Morley and having met up again discovered that we'd had 3 children each.
After tipping me a loser Colin mentioned that he now trained greyhounds with Diane from their home and that they ran at Kinsley Stadium near Pontefract.
They'd started training greyhounds after their children nattered about wanting a pet dog.
Despite Colin working full time at Asda and Diane working for HSBC they still manage to train, feed, take for walks, clean and get about 12 greyhounds ready for racing.
It's really hard work, takes up virtually all their time and means they have little time for holidays or breaks. It can obviously be rewarding though (although not really financially) when they have a winner of a race.
Having met up again with Colin and Diane it was agreed that they would look out for a greyhound to buy for myself, Tony and Kevin and that they would train it for us.
Colin found Top Commentary, a well bred Sonic Flight black bitch out of Live Commentary. She'd just won 2 good races at Ireland's premier track Shelbourne Park in Dublin leading all the way in both and was duly shipped over to Colin in January 2005 for £1200 with Colin taking a share in her as well as our budget had been exceeded.
Nicknamed Toffee by Dawn, she wasn't in as good a condition as we might have expected having several scabs and a bleeding tail following a rough sea crossing from Ireland.
She was very alert and affectionate though and was an instant hit with the owners.
To be eligible to run in a race a greyhound has to run at least 3 consistent trial races. After a couple of encouraging trials at Kinsley though Toffee started to disappoint and it took several more trials before she was able to race, finishing 5th in a modest one lap race over 465 metres on 5th April 2005.
She was then stepped up in trip to 655 metres and this proved to be very successful as she won her next 2 races by wide margins. Both wins were subject to a Stewards enquiry for improved form, the latter win resulting in a £100 fine.
In truth though the wins were as big a surprise to us as the stewards and for the second win none of us even had a bet on her.
Toffee won 5 out of her first 10 races as she progressed to the 2nd top grade (S2) at Kinsley and she was named Greyhound of the Month at the track for April 2005 as well.Throughout the summer of 2005 she ran consistently well, but unfortunately it wasn't until 16th August that she won another race. Shortly after that on 6th September she ran her fastest race in a time of 40.64 seconds for 655 metres when finishing second in a race where the winner broke the track record. Later that month though she unfortunately finished lame in a race.
In August 2005 Colin persuaded us to go in to a partnership to purchase a puppy that had won a race at Harolds Cross in Dublin by a wide margin and in a fast time.
So Becks Bird another black bitch from Droopys Vieri out of Churchtown Posh was sent across from Ireland to be trained by Colin and Diane and nicknamed Becky.
Whereas Toffee is an affectionate bitch that jumps up to greet you, Becky is a cool placid bitch that seems to show little emotion.
Having trialled in successfully Becky ran 2 disappointing races at Kinsley in September 2005 and was rested for a while.
Colin had decided to hand his training licence in at Kinsley as it was taking up a lot of his time and, because we were keen for Toffee and Becky to run at Kinsley, Toffee was moved to Mark Siddall to be trained at his kennels in Rotherham, whilst Becky was moved to Richard Garth who trained in Horsforth.
Despite returning to racing before the end of 2005 Toffee didn't run particularly well and on 26th November, following another disappointing race she was found to have broken a toe nail and damaged a pad.
She was rested until early 2006, but despite running a few encouraging races has never actually won a race since 16th August 2005.
Becky returned to the racetrack on 27th December after a few reasonable trials. In a race best remembered for the snow that fell just before, Becky flew out of the traps and won by over 4 lengths in a fast time for the grade of 28.58 seconds for the 465 metres.
Another Stewards Enquiry was announced for the improvement in time, which meant that although we only owned 2 greyhounds we'd already been subject to 3 enquiries. Thankfully there was to be no fine for us this time, but the trainer was asked to leave the track shortly after meaning that we needed another trainer if we wished Becky to continue running at Kinsley.
Step forward Shane Waring one of the part owners of Becky who fancied a go at training with his partner Karen Walker, who ironically works for the same company as myself GE Capital.
Becky's first race for Shane and Karen was on 11th February 2006 where once again she flew out of the traps and led most of the way until caught on the line. The time she did was her fastest ever of 28.45 seconds although the official time allowing for the state of the track was recorded as 28.55 seconds. 3 weeks later, on my youngest son Matthew's 12th birthday, Becky won again flying out of the traps and coming home 4 lengths clear.
In her next 2 races Becky was beaten despite being made favourite and then on 24th March she was involved in a rough race, picked up a slight knock and was given a break.
Although only having a few dogs Shane and Karen had started their training career well having a few winners including an open race at Pelaw Grange Co Durham. Despite this, training greyhounds as well as working was proving difficult and they handed in their Kinsley licence.
Becky was moved to the Horsforth kennels of Richard Garth again and Shane would help with the training there and get Becky ready to run at Hull, a recently upgraded track where the prize money was slightly better than Kinsley.
In March 2006 Colin and Diane had also been accepted to train greyhounds to run at Hull Greyhound stadium.
With Becky set to run at Hull it made sense to move Toffee back to Colin and Diane's kennels so that both bitches would run at Hull.
However these plans were disrupted when the Hull stadium was closed in a dispute over who actually owned the track.
The Hull closure proved to be a blessing in disguise because Kinsley were good enough to help out and let Colin have his licence back there. This meant that we could move Toffee back to Colin and be able to watch her run at Kinsley rather than have to travel the 70 or so miles to Hull.
After her race on 15th April therefore, Toffee was taken back to Colin and Diane's kennels. She picked up a nasty cut pad in this race, but it was good to have her back at the Morley kennels as they're within 100 yards of where I work.
Shane also successfully applied for his Kinsley licence back and Becky was moved back to Shane and Karen's Gomersall kennels to recommence racing.
Events took another twist though when Shane sold his share in Becky to Colin and Becky was moved back to be trained by Colin and Diane.
Two races later Becky became the first winner back at Kinsley for Colin and Diane.
The following week on May 19th (my birthday) Toffee ran an incredibly brave race leading from the first bend and hanging on to win her first race since August 2005. During the race though her cut pad had opened up again and required stapling and bandaging.
Two weeks later Becky split a web on one of her feet whilst racing and both bitches required time to recover from injuries before they'd be able to race again.
Both Toffee and Becky were never quite able to shake off their injuries and despite both returning to the track for a few races the decision was taken to retire both of them.
Toffee really missed running though and in December 2006 was given a solo trial at Kinsley and although her paw was a bit sore afterwards this run gave her a much needed run and gave us a little bit of optimism that she may yet run in a race again.
All the owners really appreciate the work that Colin and Diane put in to looking after our dogs and to show that appreciation in early January 2007 we gave them a break from their normal routine by taking them round Leeds for a meal at Da Mario's and on to a few bars.
A few days later I got an even better idea of the work Colin and Diane do running their kennels by accompanying Colin to Kinsley to take Toffee and 2 other dogs for trials one evening after a day at work.
What with getting the dogs out of their kennels, putting them in the van and driving to the track (at rush hour), sorting out the dog's muzzles, racing jackets, registering them with the track, weighing in and waiting for trials involving the dogs it was a combination of hard work and boredom.
After the trials all the dogs were given a drink of water and then driven home where they were cleaned to fully remove the track sand from them and given warm milk before being put in their kennels for the night.
Even after that the night wasn't over for Colin as a few of the other dogs in the kennels had to be taken for a walk.
In terms of Toffee's trial she ran a reasonable time of 29.57 for the 465 metres and although her paw looked sore she enjoyed the run and wasn't in any sort of pain afterwards. We're still undecided at what to do in the future with Toffee, but retirement still looks the most likeliest.
I closely follow Colin and Diane's runners and are as pleased as they are when they win.
One particular story stands out for me concerning one of their other greyhounds Magna Maisie (Colin's Christmas present for the next 15 years according to Diane).
Magna Maisie (Maisie) is a black bitch blessed with brilliant early pace and was considered good enough to be entered in an Open race at Belle Vue Manchester on the evening of Sunday 26th November 2006.
Unfortunately on the day of the race their van broke down prior to setting off to the track meaning they had to consider declaring her as a non runner.
Instead though they got in to their car and set off to Manchester with Colin and Diane in the front and Kelly and Scott 2 of their children in the back with Maisie sat between them, being reassured throughout the journey.
They got lost though and only just made it to the track in time for her to race.
Not the ideal preparation given Maisie was running against dogs from some of the top kennels in the country.
It all had a fantastic conclusion though when Maisie blasted out of the boxes and won easily. An amazing night for their whole family.
1 Picture, 0.1Mb
