DRAKEYS BANDIT ( WALLY )
Wally was a super dog for us, unfortunately he was troubled by injury so we retired him before he did anything that was too serious, he was a handful, you had to wrestle him into the traps but he always gave you 100%, even when he was injured and that was his problem, the adrenelin carried him through.
In his only win he was taken out at the first bend but he had the desire and he battled back to win in his fastest time, 26.26.
Wally can now be seen strewn across our living room, thankfully he has mellowed with age.
You know when your mum says " its cold put a jumper on "
and you really dont want to,
Guess who got a xmas present from granny
we lost wally to a brain tumour, 06/08/10
R I P mate, go and chase those spaniels
MONAS IMAGE ( MIDGE )
Midge came to us after being schoolled twice and failing to grade in at Romford, Thankfully we were able to help keith out and take her and also it gave Karen a chance to learn the ropes.
Peterborough were very good to us to allow us to re-school her during trials and they never refused us a trial.
We knew we had our work cut out on her first run when she was 2 seconds outside grading, but she has some heart and it was not from the want of trying, she just didnt have the body for it, lol.
Her first trial was NOVEMBER 2004 and she graded on 25 AUGUST 2005, so you can imagine the tension when she had her first race for us on 31 August 2005, although beaten 10 lengths she gave a stirling performance,
2 wins and 29 races later they shortened the grading time at Peterborough so we retired her to our sofa.
Since then karen has taken her to obedience & agility classes and she is the perfect companion, Although a little grey she is still a puppy at heart but dont try and get on her sofa she needs all the room she can get.
CATUNDA ALISON (ALI)
We got Ali form SLICK Keith Allsopp, she was a stormer,she would plough her way through the field with the heart of a lion, she always gave her all and she never knew when she was beaten.
Ali gave us our first trophy win and lots of fun and won 3 from 15 for us, Unfortunately she had a bad gracillis injury, we tried to bring her back but it went again, so we retired her to the breeding paddock with Tommy Bolton at Geashill.
She went to ahane lad twice and micks mystic once but she didnt take.
Tommy was good enough to rehome her for us and found her a nice place on a farm, the last we heard she was running riot with a german shepherd where she is definately top dog.
CARGAN AGAIN ( BARNEY)
Barney is another dog that we got from Slick keith Allsopp.
Barney won first time out for us and we thought we had our open class dog.
With hindsight we got this dog too early in our career, he always had a niggling shoulder injury and he was a very fast dog on the bunny, but if he was not first out he would throw the towel in and jog around with the group.
If we knew then what we know now we could have sorted his shoulder out.
Given that he still won 5 from 43 for us and he had lots of early pace.
At the time at Peterborough if you broke 4 seconds for the sectional and got under 26 seconds you had a good dog.
BARNEY DID 3.92, 25.99, he was a very good dog on his day
Unfortunately despite doing fast trial times we couldnt get him in the sprint opens at Peterborough, several times they were won in slower times than Barney had done.
Barney had a few niggles and as Yvonne had said she wanted to have him when he had finished racing we retired him.
So Barney can be seen on the beach at Southport with my brother Richard and his lovely wife Yvonne ( thats a tenner you owe me Y ).
Despite having a very nice kennel in the garage Barney has decided that his place is on the sofa in the lounge and he only goes in his kennel for his meals.
CANDO ( CANDY)
Candy was bought from kinsley for her early pace, she had this but she broke her toe early on. This was removed and she never showed her true potential.
She won 1 from 11 for us and when they quickened the grading time at Peterborough we decided to retire her rather than to prolong our agony.
She is now with a lovely lady Anthea in Peterborough, she boards with our friends, (candy not Anthea) so we get regular updates.
DRAKEYS KEIGHTLEY (SKY)
Sky was owned by our son Gary and his mate Dave Keightley, hence the name.
We got Sky from Tommy Bolton at Geashill, she was very nervous and took time to settle in. She was meant to be a 6 bend dog, but due to her nerves she was very inconsistent when racing.
If she got a clear run she was ok but she didnt like being crowded, she was very quick in a solo and she only won one race for us.
Sky was a very difficult dog to get fit as between injuries she had her seasons,
BUT she had a lovely temperament and looked a picture.
When we moved to Coventry Stadium we gave her a go but she found the 480 a bit stiff and she didnt like the 625 so we retired her.
White Lodge RGT kindly found a home for her with James and she has settled in well in front of the Arga and she can be seen in Great Dolby, We see alot of her and she looks well and is a great companion to James`s mum. She has been re named JEMIMA which seems to suit her well.
OOAAR BREEZY (ELLIE)
We trained Ellie for Sue & Paul Newberry, but unfortunately she had a bad wrist injury, she showed loads of potential and won second time out for us but despite rest & treatment she broke down on her return. She was rehomed in Newcastle by a friend of a friend but sadly they had personal problems so we took her back.
Ellie was rehomed by White lodge RGT and found a lovely family.
We have had regular updates from melanie and although a bit of a handfull she has settled in well with Dodger & Leo and can be seen walking the streets and fields of Ratby.
IN FINE FETTLE ( ELVIS)
Whilst i was in Ireland looking for dogs i saw Elvis in the kennels of Tommy Bolton.
As soon as i saw him i knew he was a special dog, after i had bought sky i asked about him, it seems he was useless and they were looking to rehome him, So we got him as a freebie, just the cost of the transport home.
He was a special dog so he had to have a special name, ELVIS suited him to a T as he was a superstar.
He didnt like Peterborough as the 420 was a bit tight for him but he had lightning early pace and the constitution of a lion, several times he knocked the old man off the bucket at the pick up, not the fastest dog ever but what a character.
We gave him a few open sprints at Coventry and Romeo Maldini just got the better of him.
Then one night at Peterborough he was out and gone, 3 lengths in the lead , he was home n hosed and no one would catch him, going into the third bend he stopped and jogged home, he was checked out by the track vet who could find nothing wrong with him.
He was vey quiet when we got him home and he half ate his supper.I checked on him before i went to work in the morning and he was very subdued.
Karen went to get him up for his breakfast and he wouldnt get off his bed.
She whisked him straight to the vets, Richard Torr & Jane tried tirelessly to save him but he had a total organ failure and had to be PTS.
This was our darkest day in the sport when we lost this character.
DRAKEYS HABANERO (SPARKY)
One of the best looking dogs you will ever see, he was schooled twice and given every opportunity but he didnt want to race, he was quite happy to jog around with his mates, BUT one of the fastest dogs on the gallops, he had it in him but he didnt want to use it, we just couldnt get in to his head, we where all gutted.
Else & Maurice ( the breeders) gave him another chance but to no avail and then they rehomed him for us.
DRAKEYS BLUEBIRD
This young lady was schooled twice in Ireland and wouldnt chase, so she was re homed by the rearer.
This was the end of the DRAKEYS prefix, we couldnt take any more failures, neither could the bank account
HEADLEYS SCHOLES ( SID)
SID OUR FIRST OPEN WINNER
After we lost Elvis and after alot of deliberation we decided that we needed to get a replacement, Perry Barr Sales were coming up, so we sent off for a catalogue.That was the easy part, hours later after studying the lots and watching videos on the internet our shortlist was made up and prices put next to them.
We had decided we wanted a dog with early pace that faded, he would be ideal for the 420 at Peterborough and if we were lucky a few minor open sprints and hopefully cheap as he didnt get the 480 at Perry Barr.
The day of the sale came and as usual half the lots had changed but we did our usual, pages of note taking , cross referencing them with our notes from home, talk about a paper mountain, but hopefully we had it all sorted.
There was a tremendous thunderstorm half way through the trials which changed the going but to be fair the track drained very well considering the severity of the storm. We took our place inside and watched the re-runs and if you know perry Barr Sales settled in for a long slog.
The first few lots came and went without much fuss, then Headleys Scholes entered the building, he was a lovely looking dog. We had him on our shortlist and marked at about £1k, so he was out of our price range unless he had a good run in his trial, then i would go that far but with a good run so would others.
I had spoken to Karen after the trials and put a line through him after his run. My comments were, qaw, led to 3, faded, finished lame as - - - - and i had crossed him out.
The bidding started but there was no interest, i looked at Karen, we had a quick muffled discussion, if we could get him for a silly price he would be worth a chance, wouldnt he ?????, so we bid, there was one counter bid, i looked at Karen and bid again, we got some funny looks but he was ours, we had virtually stolen him.
On getting him home he was a monster, he had had an op on a track leg and he had a back problem, as normal Richard Torr and Jane sorted him out.
The sale was early December but it was nearly the end of February before we could get him to the track, but it was worth it , he won first time out for us.
He didnt really like Peterborough, it was too tight for him so due to his early pace we tried him in the sprints at Coventry , It took him a while to adapt and he ran against some good dogs but the more runs he had the more he adapted, we moved to Coventry and sid went into graded sprints.
He was a lunatic, you had to wrestle him into the traps and once in he screamed to get out, he normally missed the break but once out he was straight into his stride. The sweeping wide bends of Coventry were perfect for him, Once out he wouldnt break stride until he attacked the bucket at the pick up.
He won from traps 2-5, he didnt need a gap sid would make his own and when in front he won, except on one night he came up against a quality sprinter "highfield joker" he managed to pick sid up just before the line but he did get a greyhounfd data rating of 100 for his 17.04.
Sid won 6/21 for us at Coventry and was in the first 3 for 15/21 he was a high maintanence dog due to trying to keep his track leg under control but if he only sprinted he could run once a week.
It is great when a plan comes together SID had worked wonders for us and given us our first open winner and more importantly lots of fun.
The new management at Coventry decided to scrap the graded sprints, he wouldnt get the stiff 480 and as they had also decided to limit the sunday open sprints to just one race the quality for that had dramatically improved. We were left with no option but to sell him, he went up north to flap, he won 3 from his first 5 races and has gone on to win even more.
We were both heartbroken to lose sid and both nearly in tears as in his last race for us he won in his best ever time, what a superstar.
KILLEACLE JOHN
BILLERICAY NIKKI
BANTISS JENNINGS (PADDY)
We got paddy from Johnny Moyles of bantiss fame, he was very expensive for us but nothing in the greyhound world.
Johnny really rated him and expected big things, he was to put us and Johnny on the map.
Paddy could run both 480 and 625, the problem was he was slow away and always left himself alot to do and being a very wide runner gave a few lengths away as well,lol
The 625 suited him best as the start was close to the bend so they couldnt get too far away from him.
Paddy was exciting to watch as he was never beat and always finished strong.
He ran against some of the best dogs in the country and was never disgraced,corrig vieri, rough domino,westmead oriole,droopys zach, kinda easy. kinda ready, elbony robinho,
English derby, st leger and arc finalists and winners.
He suffered in opens at coventry due to the mark wallis affect, mark has quality dogs and would enter 6+ dogs and get them all in different heats, so it was tough, but thats open racing.
The Padster gave us our second best moment in racing ( our first open win with sid will take some beating),
It was my brother Richards birthday, we had booked the diamond lounge for him and all the Drakes and Hiltons converged on Coventry,I had asked for a runner on the night, but was dissapointed when paddy had been put on the card for the wednesday prior to the saturday,Paddy couldnt run twice in a week, he missed the break as usual but ran on strong on wednesday.
So i had warned everyone not to expect too much and they all knew he was a slow starter and strong finisher.
As normal he missed the break, he gave the field 2 lengths start, as he passed the post for the first time he was stone last, even in the middle i could hear the kids shouting him home,
Paddy did not dissapoint, he started to reel them in and the noise got louder and louder, he was moving through the field with ease, coming off the last he was on the shoulder of the front dog, with the kids going ballistic he pushed for home to take the honours.
It was unbelievable for paddy to win in his normal style in front of the family and a trophy race as well, a great end to a perfect night.
if we had won the derby we couldnt have been any happier,
Alan (karens dad) is used to my predictions so he had ignored me and had a nice winner as paddy came in at 4/1.
Paddy has been troubled with injuries throughout his career and we feel we still didnt get the best out of him,
He won at both 480 and 625 for us in open class and graded races and out of his 7 wins i suppose his "Birthday" run typifies him best.
On his come back from a hip/quad injury he broke his hock on the schooling track, early retirement for the padster.
Before these pictures were taken he was full of himself but when the camera came out he felt sorry for himself,lol
PHOTOS TO ADD WHEN I FIND THEM LOL,
MEADOWS JOKER, MUSTANG VINCE,
DROOPYS WEAVER,TOP DELIVERY,
DROOPYS FOWLER,BRIGHT PROSPECT (he certainly was),PELE, QUESTHOUSE DIVA
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