SPOTLIGHT ON OUR OWNERS  –  NUMBER 3

DAVE STADDON       (Part One)

I started going with my parents to Stamford Bridge in the late 1950’s. Racing was on straw in the winter and grass in the summer, the track was around the football pitch. I only remember one dog from that time, Hopeful Master a big 80lb black dog who won lots of races from trap 1 or 2.
In the 1960’s i started going with Ted Lloyd to Wandsworth, White City, New Cross, Hendon, Harringay, West Ham anywhere in London where racing was on. Great times!
I bought my first dog in 1972 for £100. A lovely brindle bitch called Carousel Joy who ran at White City, she did not manage to win there so i sent her to Ted Dickson at Slough. She graded in A1 but was injured in her final trial and never raced again.
In 1973 i bought Tarragon off of Gordon Hodson. He ran 15 times winning only at the 15th attempt at 14/1 . I remember Hodson rushing straight round to us looking for a drink!
He then went to Slough where he won once before being given away to run at Poole where he won plenty of races.
I took a break from having dogs until the 1980’s when Ted Lloyd joined Norah McEllistrim and i had shares with him in Head Crest and Wudythink both of which gave us lots of fun. Especially Wudythink on our travels to Portsmouth on Friday nights. We also went to Gloucester where he won The Grand National of The West breaking the clock in the final.
1984 i had Face the Game [soon disqualified] and Getaway Shane who was a fast dog who won S1 races. Unfortunatly he suffered from arthritus and was retired early.
1987 i owned Freaslannach [kennel name – Charlie], still my favourite, He went A7-A1- S3-S1 at Wimbledon.
Won the Federation Cup which was an inter-track competition the final was at Oxford, what a great night that was! Charlie ended up running 149 races winning 28 he had a long and happy retirement at Norahs.
(Part Two)
The Nineties
1989 Always Drawing i owned with Norman Smith [named after Norman as in those days he always was!]. Rusty was a top class sprinter and also won many graded races at Wimbledon. He was dog of the month two or three times. He won many sprint opens and reached the Scurry Gold Cup final at Catford finishing 2nd to a Ginger McGee flyer who never won another race!! We hired a coach from Hayes to go to the final – what a night!

1990 Iron Merchant which Norman and I bought off  Charlie Sparrowhawk for very little money. He was Rustys brother but was as slow as Rusty was quick but he did manage to win a few races mainly in H4 Hurdles.
1992  I purchased Stay Silent with Phil Stent among others for £3000. She was bought as an open race staying bitch but after winning a couple of S1 races at Wimbledon she was always breaking down and retired early.
1993 King Oyster, was another fast dog, 27.80 first look at Wimbledon won A2 first time out but was plagued by neck trouble, despite going swimming! The problem could not be solved and was retired early.
1994 My first dogs with Janet and Brian Drake[lovely people]were Jaydees Wish and Novelty King both of which won their share of graded races.
1995 Greenview Hero and Spiral Patch were my first dogs with Trevor (Kodak) Cooper. Both of them were good graders.
1997 Ballyfair Slippy was my first venture into buying dogs at sales. This was at Walthamstow. I thought he looked good but he turned out to be dodgy but he did manage to win hurdle races.
1998  Roses Double {davy}was another fast dog but injury prone and retired early. My best recollection of him is taking him for a walk on a Sunday morning up the lane and him refusing to turn round. I had to go to the Church and back again!
1998 The Wishful Syndicate was formed. We shared 5 dogs all with the ‘Wishful’ prefix. They were bred from Billy Harmes bitch Princess Penny. They ran 340 races between them. It was a period of great fun for everybody concerned.
Will Be Continued