Caption: Joe McFadyen (right) with 2023 Maitland Cup winner Nangar Jim and connections. (Photo: Courtesy GRNSW)

By JOE McFADYEN

MY ethos in greyhound racing is you will only be as good as the opportunities you create for yourself.

I suppose that is an ethos many of us live by in our everyday lives. But, I have found it is particularly apt for entry to this tough racing business.

My life, all 43 years of it, has pretty much been centred around greyhound racing. My dad Allan and his mate Siddy Lentholm (always Uncle Sid to me) raced dogs together when I was a kid.

I went everywhere with them, followed them around to Appin, Bulli … you name it. By the time I was 16 or 17, I’d bought my first pup, a bitch I named Pound Of Fire and I trained her myself. From 32 starts she won eight and ran eight placings.

Yes, I bred a litter with her, to an old stayer Ruth and Ray King had called Golden Butter. It had a dog called Ounce Of Fire that won 20 races.

While these days I have a kennel of 10 dogs on a six-acre property at Kariong, it wasn’t always that way and I suppose this allows me to impart some tips on what it is like to work and run a small kennel out of a house block, because that’s how I got started.

My parents retired to Tamworth and I went with them and got to know an old fella called Billy Brown. I watched and watched him prepare his small team of dogs. When Billy had a punt, he hardly ever lost.

Billy started talking to me and I picked up everything I could from him. These days I look to Sid Swain as a mentor. He is super intelligent with a dog and ever helpful with advice.

From Tamworth I moved to Singleton in my job as manager of a Regional Australia Bank. I met Kat Ernst there and her passion for racing was infectious and we started the search for the ideal greyhound property.

The differences from training on a house block to a greyhound training-specific property are incredible.

The biggest difference, when I look back now, is that you do not have access to easily gallop your team. Having your own property might take you six weeks to get a dog fit, but out of a house block, walking the streets, it can take almost twice as long.

Having all the right facilities at home – straight track, kennel block and everything that goes with all that – means a huge cut in time. And dogs are never out of a car when you are on a house block.

Having those facilities on a property allow you to train exactly how you want. I have noticed in the past three years the quality of dog and our strike rate have gone through the roof. It is all down to having the right facilities.

With the move to acreage and such a purpose-built property, our results have improved dramatically to the stage where we have won Group races and I am now approached regularly to take on new dogs, or by new owners wanting me to find a dog for them. It happens two or three times a week.

This is something I believe the industry, and especially those who run it, can improve greatly.

So often these newcomers say they want to get a greyhound, but don’t know how to. Obviously “super keen” newcomers will find a way. But it is very obvious getting any such advice from the powers-that-be is almost impossible.

Try ringing those powers-that-be and ask for the phone number of a trainer …

I also believe it is incumbent on our authorities to push syndication.

In recent times, since we’ve had Group success with dogs like Nangar Jim, the number of racehorse owners who have approached me about getting a dog has risen sharply.

The first thing they always say is they are sick and tired of all the charges to have a racehorse. The theme of these complaints is that if a horse sneezes the owners will get a bill.

They cannot believe a one-off purchase price of a tried dog is all they will pay. Half prizemoney charges but no training fees are perfect for many newcomers.

But it is very difficult to find the right dog. I’ve got one owner who has been waiting patiently for six months for us to find the right dog.

That “right dog” is one that can get the owner’s outlay back. That is always foremost in my mind when searching for a dog for greyhound racing newcomers and regular clients.

But often the chance of getting a return can be impacted by grading and prizemoney. To give an example, city prizemoney was on offer at The Gardens, Gosford and Maitland and it was easy to pay $20,000 for a dog and be confident it would earn its keep and repay the outlay.

Then those city prizemoney races were moved to Richmond which is three hours away from our kennel base. Fortunately, a few of these have been moved back.

Potential purchases for us must run 500 metres, and obviously we all want city class dogs. If a dog can likely get 600 metres later on, that is even better.

I have never had much luck buying pups.It is very obvious we live in a world today where people want everything ”now”. It’s the same with newcomers to greyhound racing. So many of them get the idea to get a dog, then want to see it racing ASAP. They live in the now.

Since we have had a taste of Group racing, we’ve got the taste for it. Dogs like Nangar Jim, Ali Tango, Sandstorm Rico, Belmont Bullet, Hurricane’s Fury, Nangar Luna make you hungry for more.

I still work as a risk analyst and enjoy what I do. Working and training greyhounds is exhausting, but I very much enjoy what I do.

My advice to newcomer trainers is “know your dog”.

I have never spent a lot of time at other trainers’ kennels, so what I have picked up has been hands-on or from a very few select mentors. My advice is to ask, what is it you are trying to achieve with your dog?

My feeding is a bit different to most in that we feed lots of pasta and vegies, but the beef we feed is the very best we can buy. The dogs get fat added to the beef and we feed in the morning with a light meal in the afternoon.

I am very light on the vitamins we feed, but they do all get a K-Max vitamin tablet.

Don’t get me wrong. In the past, I have tried every single brand of kibble there is, and every supplement I could get my hands on. I don’t use any of it any longer.

I soon worked out it was the dogs that did the winning.

The secret to training is you have to learn when to go, and when to whoa.