Mention of Charlie Lister OBE last week reminded me of when I first met him. It was 1948 when I was working for a greyhound vet in Liverpool called Wentworth Elam at the tracks there. I met my brother Ted off the Dublin boat. He wanted me to drive him to Sherburn in Elmet in Yorkshire for an interview with a famous horse vet called Dick Hayes. On the way we saw two horse carts with a pair of horses tied to the rear door of each. Among the four men in charge was a small boy handling the reins of one of the two horses between the shafts. Curious to know their business I asked "Where were they going to ?". "Appleby fair" was the answer. The eldest man asked me where I was going to. When I told him all about Ted and myself he became friendly and said he was Charlie Lister and the boy was his only son. Little did I think then that twenty years later I would treat a dog for that little boy.
A year later Jane and I moved to Dublin and set up in practice in Clondalkin. We gradually gathered clients but many of them were attracted because they owed money to my colleagues. We bought a few greyhounds and enjoyed racing them on most of the Irish tracks. The best we had was a dog bred from two good coursers -- Mountain Emperor and Lenten Lily. We named him Wheatfield after our house and Atom because of his size.
He weighed only 56 lbs but when we took him for a trial at Chapelizod he showed keen interest in chasing. Jane was interested in seeing Ireland and we entered him almost everywhere there was a track. He won at Derry, Dundalk, Enniscorthy, Harolds Cross, Navan, Newbridge, Kilkenny, Shelbourne, Thurles, Waterford and Youghal. He also won two sprint races at Ballina, Longford and Mullingar. I remember unique factors about Ballina. The two wins were a heat and final on the same evening and the manager Jim Heffernan was a vet who had qualified 26 years before me.
Our luck ran out when we ventured to the tracks in Belfast with longer straights. He led for a long way at Celtic until he was passed in the last twenty yards. He again tried hard on the longer straights at Dunmore but was beaten by four bigger dogs.
Jane took our infant son Walter with her wherever we went and enjoyed meeting many friendly racegoers. We usually had the company of some friend I had known in Dublin. Jim Fallon from Palmerstown became a lifelong friend until he died in '74 at the age of 79. I have never met any straighter man. He was born at Moyvoughley where his father was a noted blacksmith. As a teenager he worked hard helping to shape the shoes for the horses' hooves. He learnt to drive a lorry before moving to Dublin to drive for C.I.E. --We feel fortunate to still know his wonderful daughters, Catherine in the old home overlooking the lovely Liffey Valley in Palmerstown and Mary the Nun away caring for children in Zambia. Jim was among the most knowledgeable on the history of greyhounds since the time of Master McGrath. When he could not come with us his neighbour Luke Carey loved the chance of a run down the country. Luke talked mostly about football as his brother Johnny was none other than the captain of Manchester United. Another friend who was eager to accompany us was the Dublin county councillor Mick O'Neill who was DeValera's pal in jail. There was also Sergeant Peter Lambe who was a driver for the government ministers. Peter was a keen greyhound follower and was expert at getting the best price when he fancied one. Whenever we were going north we often met up with Mick Higgins -- Cavan's greatest footballer who was also gifted in handling greyhounds.
I used to lead the "Atom" on the parade before his races and our passenger usually collected enough from the bookmakers to pay for the petrol and our meals and drinks in the pubs -- except when we went to Waterford and Youghal. When we won at Kilkenny the Racing Manager there was so impressed that he remembered to attend those two tracks when he read that "Atom" was a runner. As soon as the market opened he took the price on offer. The bookmakers respecting and fearing his judgement -- then scrubbed out all of the chalk against us !
The strongest betting markets on the Irish tracks were in Belfast. At the small town of Clones I saw some big bundles of notes being handed up. One of the bravest layers there was Terry Rogers from Glasnevin. The big stuffed monkey hanging from his board attracted much interest until someone broke into his car and stole it. This was reported in the newspapers and some readers thought it was a real monkey and were concerned about its welfare. When Terry offerred a reward of £100 the monkey returned. I got to know this colourful character when he joined Bill & Bob Cutler in Birmingham for six or seven years.
If you backed a favourite with them they would return your stake if it finished second. In treating a hound for them they were good losers whenever the injury was incurable. The first dog I treated for Bill was Marsh Harrier in 1953. He was a lovely dog -- like his Dad Mad Tanist. The most expensive I got for him was Onword in '68. 1 saw him win a semifinal of the Tipperary Cup in Thurles. As he looked to have a good chance of winning the final I bought him for Bill for £2,000. I left him in the kennels of the famous Johnny Fennessy and flew back to Rugby. When I returned to see the final I asked what sort of form he was in. ? Johnny took the pipe from his mouth and said "Physicaly he's fine but his mind is all wrong. You should have left him with the woman he knew. He has been pining for her. Dave Cahill had a much smaller dog in the race called Gortkelly Hope. He was in front at the third bend. My fellow looked as if he could pass but never did. I told Bill that I would bring him to my kennels and keep him until he was in the mood to win again. After ten weeks he was mad to run. I entered him for an open race at Oxford and told Bill that unless he got injured he would run well. He won by several lengths and landed a big gamble. On holiday a few years later Bill went down into a cave where there was a warning for people with heart problems. I 'm sad to say Bill did not come up. He was much missed by a great many racing folk.
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