The sharp turns that cripple so many wonderful dogs

During the fifties my wife and children often shed tears when I came home from a track with an injured greyhound.  I sometimes tried to hide the lame one from them.  During the sixties I myself was worried by the number I was hurting and began writing articles about the factors that caused the stress on the limbs.  I was particularly annoyed by the injuries sustained on frozen tracks belonging to myself and  to other owners.  I well remember a cold evening at Lythalls Lane in Coventry when I was on duty as Vet for the race meeting.  After two races the temperature dropped and two runners slipped and fell over.  I complained to the Racing Manager that the surface would be unsafe if it got any colder.  After the next race it became frozen and the fog made it impossible to see the other side of the track clearly.  The R.M. telephoned the circumstances to the promoter.  He advised that a flashlamp be tied to the McWhirther sledge hare so that the driver would be able to see it and keep it at a safe distance from the dogs.  The next race was run without incident.  But in the following one the fog got more dense, the flashlamp fell off and the hare driver did not have the visibility he needed.  Two runners who got entangled on the sledge  sustained abrasions and cuts on their limbs which required dressings.   I then told the R.M. that if the meeting continued I would not be staying to attend to further injuries.  There are trainers alive who remember that evening in 1957.  When I was about to leave home for their next meeting I got a telephone call saying they had found a vet to replace me.  Despite the insensitivity of several promoters and stewards to canine suffering I supported racing and what was their business for fifty years.  I spent more than I could afford in visiting conferences and tracks in Britain,Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand, Macao, France, Holland, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden and reporting aspects of the sport that might be beneficial to others.  Few cared to read it.  Now, as I look back on happy memories of over a score in Australia the only one that I found to be really safe here was West Ham.  If there is ever going to be a new Wimbledon, here is the minimum size, plan and design that I could recommend : --  

In the Canodrome at Macau I was welcomed by Brian Murphy from Northern Ireland and I congratulated him on his busy totalisator and large crowd of keen gamblers.
         I told you about how I was sacked from Coventry when about to go there.  Some of you kind readers may be innocent enough to wonder about the compensation I must have had ? .
I had taken the job because the promoter promised to provide me with modern premises for therapy, X rays and surgery on runners injured on the track.   He had funding for repair of the damage to the stand by the blitz in 1940.  After three months I asked the speedway manager Charlie Ochiltree "when was the building going to start".  I was shocked to learn that there was an application before the city council for planning for 350 houses.
The new Vet did telephone me to say he was offered £200 a year more than I was on - and had to  take the job because he could not leave the greyhounds without veterinary care.   I told him  "Shed no tears for me;  there are plenty more runners available from Ireland and you can now employ another assistant and increase your turnover."
There was nothing unusual about the lack of consideration for man or dogs at Coventry.   At all NGRC tracks it was customary for all meetings to start, and in the event of one being abandoned, the entrance fee was retained if four races had been run.  The target was profit pursued with hypocrisy.   Colleagues at many tracks told me about being ignored when they complained about a surface being frozen or providing no grip after torrential rain.  I saw the tears from hundreds of owners, trainers and vets seeing greyhounds they loved injured on dangerous surfaces.  Although I was critical of many Independent tracks I never knew of obligation at any of them to race on a suspect surface.   The great majority of those promoters were honest decent men and women who loved greyhounds and respected every honest customer who supported them.  When they ceased making profit nobody cared to help preventing them going to to the wall.
   I would like to digress for a minute to tell you young readers of a date you can look forward to.   I  have just found my diary for August 1999 and it reminds me that I watched a solar Eclipse from a hill near Chop Gate.   It also tells me that there will be another in September 2090.   That won't be long coming; all you have to do is - keep on breathing.
This afternoon I was pleased to hear from an ex client called Mal Thomas who has retired over near Mullingar.  He was among the kindest trainers I knew.   Indeed he treated his dogs as if they were children and they responded by performing well for him on field and track.    His best was probably Johns Mascot who won the Waterloo Cup in '92.   He was by Autumn Crystal X Here & There who were both descended from famous names going back to the 44 lbs bitch Coomassie who won it in 1877 and again the following year. !   Johns Mascot got the first half of his name because he belonged to the great sportsman John Gaskin who sadly has left us for what I hope is a fairer place.
Two years later Mal entered a dog for a race at Reading.  Though only a grader it was loved just as much as the Mascot.  The weather was foul and when Mal saw the surface he considered it too dangerous.   The gang who were supposed to foster our sport and its image robbed him of £500.   In the Sporting Life the experienced, and humane writer Bob Betts described their action as "brutal".   But of course they were as immune to criticism as they were short on compassion for trainers and their dogs.
Mal repeated the rare feat of training a second Waterloo winner in '97.   I have rarely seen so many excited enthusiasts rushing to congratulate a winning trainer of the historic event.  They were so happy for Mal that I feared he might collapse from the weight of hands striking his back.
This time he did it with one named Teds Move who was versatile enough to also win races on the track at Romford.   The fact that his pedigree included 90% track breeding was surely a factor in these wins.
              Since I went beyond ninety, aches and pains in my old joints prevent me sleeping as much as I used to.   On most nights I wake within three hours.    If still awake after an hour I have to rise, boil the kettle and add five ounces to an equal quantity of what they brew over in Cork and put in a bottle with my name on it.   But on the cold nights the arthritis may require a small measure of what is mellowed in a bog at the foot of a mountain that must remain nameless.   On nights when I have run out of my special medicine I have to lie there dreaming or longing for the days when massive crowds came to the tracks.   They came to see the dogs and not just to bet on them.  Then there were some officials who loved dogs.  They cared for their welfare and for that of the men and women who worked and often slept with them.  From 1948  Lord Denham M.C.  was the Chief Steward.   But  after his term the rogues gradually infiltrated the "goldmine".  I noticed the atmosphere changing.  When the great lawman heard of the dissension  that exploded during the '68 Derby he was said to have felt ashamed he had ever been associated with us.
  The number of followers deserting us was increasing steadily.   All too late, I had been advocating democracy and statutory control.   I did have 750 supporters but after a year the great majority abandoned hope.
         The shenanigans over "Not Flashing" who had been brought over from Dungannon for the Derby by Frank Calvan brought us more bad publicity.   The "Water Rats"  a group of celebrities and comedians who included Tommy Trinder purchased a dog called Camira Flash and put it to run for charity in the name of  HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
The result of the first semi-final was announced with Not Flashing placed third.    As the first runner for the second semi-final was being put in the trap there was a further call : - Hel-lo  Hel-lo  In the last race, Not Flashing has been disqualified.
The seasoned racegoers instantly realised that  Camira Flash who had been eliminated in fourth place would now be placed third  and thus qualified to contest the final.    Murmurs of surprise and shock became booos and cat-calls just as the race started.
I had watched the previous race intently and had not seen  Not Flashing do anything wrong.   I asked for the opinion of some experienced race readers but nobody made any criticism of him.  This well bred dog resumed his career in Belfast  and won 10 of his next 13 races.
    The final of that Derby a week later attracted nearly twice as many racegoers.    It transpired that some were armed with tomatoes and eggs that were not all fresh.   They were intent on staging a protest to show their sympathy for  Not Flashing.   Their demonstration became particularly noisy, ugly and hostile when Camira Flash jumped from the trap and was always in front.   The thirty or forty diners who came down for the presentation were pelted so heavily that they panicked and rushed back to the top deck.   Trainer Randy Singleton rushed away with the Derby winner to the safety of the kennels.
All thoughts of a presentation were forgotten.