Can you post a little about the dogs records Glenn and how the scene works? What"s the prize money like, entry fees, etc - would be great to get some insight into whether people can make money at that game.
Don"t know if anyone saw it, but I followed the first season of "Luck" on Sky a couple of months back, with Dustin Hoffman and set around a racecourse in LA. Gave a great background to the gee gees.
Right, will make start re the greyhounds. My Dad was a bookmaker and when I was a kid he owned 3 bookie shops in South London. So on Saturdays I was always taken to one of the shops as my mum worked on the till and I spent the day out the back with my Dad while he settled the bets. In those days the commentaries were over the tannoy and results confirmed on a ticker tape. My "job" was to shout out the SP"s from the tape as they came through and the old man wrote them down. Sunday mornings often involved a trip to Phil Rees" greyhound kennel in Surrey, as my Dad owned a couple of dogs and we used to take them for a walk and give them a few treats. So it"s probably fair to say I was brought up in a bit of a gambling environment, but I loved it and believe I was a fantastic tipster when I was 12 years old. I knew everything about horses and my Dad would often refer to me when he wanted to know about a particular horse and if the distance and going would suit. Unfortunately I no longer have that level of info!!
I bought my first flat in my early 20"s and it was a 5 minute drive from Wimbledon dog stadium. In those days they ran 4 nights a week and I rarely missed a meeting. The dogs took over from the horses and it wasn"t long before I knew every dog that ran there. My knowlegde grew and I hit a bit of a golden streak. Remember we are going back about 25 years and I remember going in 8 nights on the trot and winning each time, and my total profit was nearly £2k which was like 3 months wages. I knew some of the kennel staff and had a good supply of information coming through.
So this money was burning a hole in my pocket so I decided to do something sensible with it. I picked up the Sporting Life, went to the classified section, and found a greyhound for sale. The following night I went to Wembley stadium, watched a dog run, handed over £750 and suddenly she was mine. Her kennel name was Titch as she weighed 22 kilos which is tiny for a dog, but she was fast out of traps and was only 15 months old. I transferred her to a trainer at Wimbledon and had a good few years fun with her. She was no world beater but had a huge heart and once her racing days were over she went to my parents and lived on the settee and in front the fire for the rest of her life.
So Titch had been good but I now wanted more. I watched the Derby dogs running and even though they were out of my budget I knew I wanted one eventually. So I decided the best chance was to buy some young pups, have them reared and hope they turn out to be Derby class. I bought two pups from Ireland at 5 months old. Had them reared for a year and then started to school them. Turns out they were useless. I sold them for small money to a trainer at Portsmouth - the class of dog there was a few notches below Wimbledon so they were happy enough and won a few times for their new owners. But I can be a stubborn old git and the desire was still there. So I tried again. but this time I bought a young dog from the sales in Limerick. Her name was River Gift and I gave her the pet name of Misty. She had reached the final of a 72 dog competition in Ireland and was still very young. She came over to England and she went to a trainer at Catford. After a few runs the penny dropped with her, and she just kept winning and getting faster. She had no early pace and always came from the back, she was so exciting to watch. She suffered though with injuries but in her short career she made me realise what a buzz I got from owning a good dog. But I wanted more!!!
Misty came home and I bred her to a dog based in Ireland. That was fun - I put her in a dog crate, flew her over to Ireland, the stud keeper met us at Dublin, we travelled down to his farm where the mating took place and we were on the 3.30 plane back to Gatwick. She was back home eating her grub by 6 o"clock. The litter resulted in 10 pups. I kept 3 who turned out to be OK, but three of the ones I sold turned out to be excellent. Her next litter produced a dog who broke the track record at Brough Park and her pups were now worth a few quid. While breeding was fun I wanted to get back into serious ownership so it was time to get serious. I wanted more!!!!
Those of you who follow the dogs have probably heard of dogs running under the "Droopys" prefix. These dogs are all bred in a large establishment in Waterford and they are well know as probably the best breeders in Ireland. A good friend of mine was also into the dogs and one day he told me he had just bought 3 pups from the Droopys kennel and would I like a share. They weren"t cheap but they were not silly money, so I bought in and the dogs all came over to England. One of these was a dog called Droopys Brooklyn, he was fast and went straight into top company, winning an open race at Romford in only his second race. We knew we had a good one and a couple of months later he got to the final of the Gymcrack at Hall Green. I think he finished 2nd in that. The biggest puppy competition was the Irish Puppy Derby at Harolds Cross ib Dublin, and this carried a first prize of 50,000 euro. We decided the dog was good enough to take his chance so we sent him to a trainer in Ireland. There were about 100 dogs entered so each round dogs got eliminated. We got through the first round, then the secon, the third and then we were in the semi final. I waited back in England for the phone call...... he won, we"re in the final!!
So the plans were quickly made and we sent a great raiding party over to Dublin. We booked into a hotel and started drinking. We arrived at Harolds Cross and had a lovely table in the restaurant. Our dog had drawn trap 1 but he was a 7/1 shot. The dog in trap 3 (who went on to win the Irish Derby) was called He Said So and was an odds on favourite. As the dogs paraded I slipped outside as I wanted to watch the race on my own. As the dogs went into traps I lit a Benson and no doubt said a prayer. The traps opened and Brooklyn flew out - he led at the bend and there was trouble behind. He was 3 lengths clear down the back straight. The crowd was going barmy but I just watched in stunned silence. Suddenly a dog emerges from the pack and starts to make ground up. He"s catching us but we"re now at the last bend. suddenly it dawns on me - we can"t get caught, he"s gonna do it. I let out an almighty roar as he crossed the line and our whole party erupts. Many years of dreaming, many disappointments on the way but this is the big one. We did it!
The trophy was presented by Jenny Pitman and I was interviewed live on Irish TV by Tracey Piggott. Dont know what I said but didn"t say anything silly. We celebrated long into the early hours and it was a night I"ll never forget. So now we had tasted the big time so the obvious thing was to try again. We wanted more...!
2nd and final dog chapter to follow. That"s enough for now!
