SPOTLIGHT ON OUR OWNERS  –  Number 4

RAY WHEELER            (Part One)

I was born in Fulham in 1945 & my parents used to take me to Stamford Bridge & White City from when I was about 5 years old in 1950!

From then on I was hooked and always wanted to own my own greyhound! My father had owned greyhounds before the war and he used to tell me tales that he used to get up to with his mates around the flapping tracks in and around London. I wasn’t allowed to have a greyhound until I was 16 and on my 16th birthday my father took me to Southall a flapping track!

My father hadn’t been there since before the war but we had only just got inside the gate when somebody shouted – Harry! and my dad turned round to see an old pal he hadn’t seen in almost 22 years! They started chatting & his pal introduced us to Bill Owen who was a bookmaker and he also had a few greyhounds. He offered us a pup of 6 months old and said if we reared it we could have a half share. A couple of weeks later we took charge of a lovely fawn greyhound!

At this time we became regulars at Southall and Bill asked us if we wanted a bitch to race while the pup was growing up. Of course we said yes and took charge of a nice brindle bitch that had raced at Wandsworth but was not performing too well. We had the ideal training ground as when I was 10 we had moved to Roehampton
so we had Wimbledon Common & Richmond Park to walk and gallop them!

The bitch who raced at Southall under the name Carols Girl didn’t start off too well for us and ran a couple of poor races, but then my dad spotted some problems between her toes and made some pads which he smothered with germaline and taped them to her feet! A couple of weeks later we entered her for a race and she ran much better finishing 2nd over 450 yards! Later that evening I was at the paddock and the racing manager was looking for runners for a 620 yards race later that evening. He asked me if I would let Carols Girl run again and I agreed as I knew her earlier race hadn’t taken anything out of her! Needless to say she popped out & led all the way! This was the start of a run of 6 wins out 7 races before she went in season and back to her owner!

‘Silver’ – (the pet name we had given the pup) was getting near schooling age. My dad got a rabbit skin from the local butchers and filled it with meat and off we went to Richmond Park. My Dad tied the rabbit skin to a long rope and we wrapped it round a tree. I was told to run as fast as I could and my dad slipped Silver after to skin! After a few yards to everyone’s surprise a live rabbit popped up next to the skin and off went Silver after the live one! I then had a long chase to catch him!

We then took him to Southall for schooling. We was pretty much able to do as we liked there so we took him into the middle of the track to watch a few trials and then handslipped him. We then played around with him in the traps to get him used to them and this worked a treat as he was the fastest trapper you could have! He would put his head against the traps and as they opened he would be gone!

We graded him at Southall under the name ‘Mum’s Pet‘ (which we was!!) in the lowest grade and after a few races Bill Owen gave us his share for what we had done with Carol’s Girl as he thought Mum’s Pet wasn’t going to make it!

As he matured Mum’s Pet climbed the grades at Southall and was a favourite with everyone! One very cold winters night we had gone to Southall without having entered Mum’s Pet but told the racing manager he was there if he wanted to use him. I went to the paddock for each race and late in the night just before the top sprint the racing manager asked if I wanted to give Mum’s Pet a run! I asked if he was joking but said Yes! I went and got him out of the car as I paraded him past the bookies i asked what price he was. They said he was 33/1. I always backed him when he run but this night decided not to. Needless to say he popped out and led all the way only to be cheered back to the paddock by the bookies! Silver (Mum’s Pet) had a long career at Southall still having
the odd race or two up to the age of 7 or 8.  So keen he would pop out of the house and wait by the car only on a Friday night!!

I brought two bitches Lucky Lal and Imperial Kim out of Portsmouth for £45 and I asked a neighbour, who had greyhounds at Wandsworth, if he could arrange a trial for me – but he said they wouldn’t be good enough! So I decided to ring up White City and they told me to bring them along on Monday morning.

I got there and it was pouring down with rain and the track was really slow! They had me down for a 2 dog trial over 525 yards. I took them to the traps and they went well and as I was walking them back to the paddock they said over the loudspeaker that if I wanted to leave them to contact trainer Lightfoot he would take them in! Lucky Lal had her first race on Easter Saturday and led over the 660 yards but was just run out of it. Her second run was Easter Monday and she came out and won at the old fancy odds of 100/6! Litter sister Imperial Kim went on to run in an open over 900 yards plus at Wembley! So I think I got a great bargain! When we retired them a chap in Skegness took them for breeding.

I cannot go into so much detail on all my greyhounds so I will skip a few years to the 1970’s. In between time I
got married, had a son moved to Birmingham & then back to West Molesey just a short distance from the Hersham kennels!

In the 70’s there was a chap called Robert Fisher who always had a lot of greyhounds for sale and offered the chance to pay over a period of time which made me think he had faith in the greyhounds he was selling! I phoned him one day and asked what he had for sale for around £150 – £200. He said he had nothing except a bitch he had just brought but had gone into season and i could have her for £190. Having always been a patient person I was happy to take her & wait for her to have her season!

This was the start of my involvement in the Hersham kennels! One day I drove down to Turners Lane, stopped at the top and then went into the first kennels I saw! They belonged to Clare Orton (son of Sidney Orton) and he agreed to take the bitch Balinderry Lass when her season ended. Her first trial at Wimbledon was nothing special (about 29.32) but on her 2nd trial she improved nearly a second! Her first race was in A4 and she finished 2nd. Her weight
was about 56lb and I asked Clare if he could put some weight on her which he agreed to do and her next race with a bit of weight on she won easily! As she went up the grades up went her weight until one night she weighed over 61lb in an A1. I said to Clare before the race that I thought he may have overdone it with the weight and sure enough she got beat after leading!

Balinderry Lass progressed to opens and won my first trophy at Harringay which was a pair of binoculars that I still have to this day! That year she went on to get into 3 oaks finals at Manchester White City, Cardiff and the big one at Harringay! She ran her best race in the semi final at Harringay as she missed her break and after getting in trouble still got up to qualify in 3rd place. In the week leading up to the final I went over the final line up time and again and I couldn’t she her finishing any worse than 5th even though she was in trap 4. Unfortunately she missed her break completely and finished last I was so disappointed! I know it really doesn’t matter if your 5th or 6th but it really hurt me! We had had a good run and I thought that she had gone over the top and needed a rest but she came out and won a trophy race at Wimbledon on the Monday just 3 days later!!

During this time I went to Hackney sales and watched over 100 greyhounds trial. I really fancied a bitch called Magazine Lady who I thought would make a good stayer from her trial run but I had made the mistake of taking my wife with me! When she was on the stand my wife said she didn’t like her colour so I didn’t bid for her! She went for 25gns and needless to say she went on to win opens over 750 at Romford!!

I went to bid for a bitch that hadn’t trialed. She was in season but my wife liked her colour!! We kept her at home for about 8 weeks then took her to Clare Orton to have trials but before she could trial she came into season again! Clare suggested we breed from her so we mated her to Clare’s very good hurdler Sue’s Boy. We took her home & with the help of Clare’s head kennel girl Valerie and her husband Brian we whelped her down in a garden shed which we had converted into a kennel! She had 12 pups and fed them in 2 sittings, half of them would be feeding, with the other half laying there contented! I kept a dark brindle dog (Dandy) and a white fawn bitch (Snowy).
I reared them in my back garden until they were ready to school and to be honest my memory of the schooling is for some reason non existent but they ended up in Clare’s kennels.

At the time I was having marital problems and Snowy was registered in my wifes name. One day I went to the kennels to walk them and Clare told me my wife had sold Snowy to one of his other owners!! To say I was livid might be a slight understatement!! I asked him how he could do this without mentioning it to me as I had always paid all the bills and they meant so much to me. I would have given the £150 they got for her to my wife!

This is when I joined the Norah McEllistrim kennels. I moved Ballindery Lass & Dandy to Norah as couldn’t stay with Clare after what he had done to me. Snowy was named Roanbest Susan by her new owner and won many open and graded races over long distances! Dandy really missed his sister so much he never settled in the
kennels so I took him home and took him to Southall to grade in there. The hare broke down during racing and it was nearly midnight by the time he trialled. When the racing manager asked for a name I said call him ‘divorce’ as that’s what will happen when I get home this late! He had a couple of races but his mind was never on racing.

I gave him to someone to trial over hurdles and he told me he was going really well and to come over to Peter Issac’s to see him trial. I didn’t want Dandy to see me so I got there and hid behind a tree but he must have sensed me as he trapped out well jumped the first hurdle but then eased as if looking for me! As he couldn’t see me behind the tree he carried on and jumped like a stag caught the other dog in the trial and won by a few lengths! When I went up to him after the trial Peter Issac said I see who it is now and if we could attach you to the hare he would be a champion!!

Soon after I retired Ballinderry Lass to breed from her. She had 2 litters but the first out of Windjammer were not great! Out of the 2nd litter by Drynham Star I had a lovely fawn dog who I called ISCOSA Ray, as by this time I was workng in Saudi Arabia for ISCOSA!! I went to work in Saudi Arabia in 1979 but came home for 17 days every 4 months, I was kept informed with what was happening on the greyhound scene by the chap who recruited me by telex (remember them!!?) & letters from my granddad who somehow even in his 80’s got to Slough where ISCOSA Ray was running to collect a couple of trophys!!
Unfortunately one day I received a telex informing me ISCOSA Ray had broken his hock and was so bad he had to be put down!

In one of my trips home I had purchased a greyhound at Hackney sales called Star ….. (sorry can’t remember full name!) who I hadn’t told anyone about.  At that time it was the most that I had ever paid for a greyhound and i was plotting a surprise visit to Aldershot on my next visit home!! But to keep my granddad interested after the
loss of ISCOSA Ray I told him about the dog & moved him to Slough to replace him but he turned his head in his first trial!! I did try him over the hurdles at Wimbledon but to no avail.

Rays Story Will Be Continued    –    Look Out For Part Two!