Caption: Steve and Krystal Shinners (centre, with connections) and Mandurah Cup winner Destruction.

By STEVE SHINNERS

AT Talaq won the Melbourne Cup in 1986 and as a then-16-year-old punter, I cleaned up big.

It furthered my interest in racing.

At the same time, I was playing a bit of footy and a teammate, Grant Moon, and his dad Brian, were into greyhound racing. I started tagging along. Brian had a very good dog at the time called Circuit Judge.

It didn’t take me long to be hooked and I started sneaking out to Olympic Park.

I remember only too well, the first night there, I ran into a bloke called Kel Greenough and I went straight up to him and asked how his dog was going to go.

The hide of me.

Kel brushed me … but not for long.

I decided to get my own dog when I turned 17 but had to get permission from my mum Sandy. She wasn’t too keen. But I wore her down.

At the time there was a very good dog in Victoria called Midland Highway. His mother Jodalee had just whelped a litter to Nitrogen and I had to have a pup. I went and picked out a blue one, then asked Brian Moon to come and check it over. As a newbie I was hoping Brian would make sure I didn’t make any mistakes.

When we went back, I spotted a white fawn bitch I had not seen earlier. She followed me everywhere and I ended up with her.

Brian reckoned I would last five minutes in dogs. Here I am 36 years later still going and, with my beautiful wife Krystal, we are doing it professionally.

I named that bitch Meadow Fox and she won at 10-1 at Warragul, my first winner. I bred with her and then with one of her daughters. From that line came Bolt Of Silver, a very good dog who won the Cranbourne Puppy Classic, a Vic Breeders and a Christmas Gift at Wenty.

Which brings me back to Kel Greenough.

About this time I got to know Kel and started working for him, learning the ropes to greyhound racing and training. It was the best start I could ever have had.

Kel suggested that even though Meadow Fox’s line was fast, I should swap it for the Wee Sal damline, which I did.

That’s how I bought Hunter Tylo and she bred Oh Behave, the top stayer of her time, and we are still breeding with the line today. Our current track star Electrified has Hunter Tylo as his fourth mother and Oh Behave is his third.

What I learned from Kel Greenough was invaluable then, and still is today. He taught me patience and the value of keeping greyhounds sound.

And, if ever anyone approaches Krystal and me about getting into greyhound racing, what Kel taught me all those years ago is exactly what we try to impart on newcomers.

Kel is one of the great muscle checkers and he taught me the art. It is invaluable today. Keeping your dogs sound is everything in greyhound racing.

And, like Bart Cummings always said, patience is a virtue especially in racing, but not everyone has it. It is one of the cheapest things in the world to have, but the most rarely used.

What I picked up from Kel all those years ago is basically how Krystal and I prepare our dogs today.

That old saying of KISS (keep it simple stupid) is so apt.

We feed only beef I get delivered from Mt Gambier to WA every eight weeks, feed a grain-free kibble, potassium, magnesium and transfer factors three times a week. It is a tablet that helps stop infection.

Krystal and I have recently moved into a seven-acre property 37 minutes from Cannington and 30 minutes from Mandurah.

We have our own straight and generally free gallop our dogs once a week.

We believe in keeping our dogs fresh. The first 50 metres of a race is more valuable to wining than the final 50 metres, in my opinion.

But I’m old school and we take our dogs walking each morning for two to three kilometres, up through the bush, and that keeps them as keen as we want them.

My first bit of advice for any newcomer into the industry is to find a mentor, or maybe even two. BUT, there are mentors and there are mentors. Only listen to and get advice from those who are winning races.

Plenty of people will want to give you “good advice”, but not all that advice is worth having.

We do not train every dog the same.

My advice is to do your research on how you want to get into greyhound racing, be it as an owner or a trainer. Newcomers could best be advised to start with a “good learning dog” that has already raced.

We are in the process of teaching Callum Robson. He comes out a few times a week to help out at the kennels and whenever Krystal and I want to go away, we are confident he is on hand to look after our dogs.

Another piece of advice is the age-old adage of keeping yourself in the best of company and your dogs in the worst.

We did this with our current star Electrified, picking the easiest races we could when he was starting his career, and now we are reaping the benefits.

While I am the first to admit we still use aspects of training, like a daily walk, technology has improved the training of greyhounds. Kibble is a perfect example.

Take for instance the fact 90 per cent of the best wheat we produce in Australia is sold overseas. What does this leave for the rest of us here, and what does that filter down to kibble for our dogs?

That’s why we feed grain-free dry food and we have found a lot of problems we encountered in the past are gone.

Kel taught me to check our dogs. We do this after every race and after every straight gallop. By doing that we are totally confident the dogs go into every race sound.

Hock ligaments are a problem far too few people take notice of.

Dogs today are so much faster than 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 50 years ago. They need to be checked over, trained and fed to take into account today’s advancements in all those aspects of preparation.

I also want to take some time to mention the great Rod Deakin and his theory that he could skip a generation by breeding with very young bitches. He proved it time and time again.

I did it with Hunter Tylo and got Oh Behave but have been able to test it once since.

Electrified is from the first litter I have bred and reared for decades and five of those have broken 30 seconds at Cannington.

We are in the process of looking for a property to rear our pups with the litters we plan to breed in the future.

Greyhound racing is a wonderful hobby, a rewarding business, and any young person thinking of making it a career would be wise to do so.

Look at the prizemoney levels of today and what is on show right around the country.

But first find that mentor or two … even Kel might be interested!