Caption: Warren and Sonia Kempshall on their wedding day.
By Mike Hill
SONIA Kempshall, who has battled health issues for many years, is having one of her best seasons with the lead and collar.
Based at Sandy Crossing in the NSW Northern Rivers region, Kempshall is heading the Grafton trainers’ premiership with a commanding lead over nearest rival Evelyn Harris after taking the title three years running in 2014, ’15 and ’16.
She has rugged up 50 winners at the track in the first nine months of 2023 as well as 30 seconds and 35 thirds.
In fact, females dominate the club’s title race with Fiona Geary holding down third spot.
Sonia, who we feature in this month’s The Trainer column, and husband Warren, also a trainer sitting in ninth place on the Grafton premiership with 11 wins, gained worldwide headlines when they celebrated their wedding on the Grafton track nine years ago.
“We were told it was the first wedding every held at a greyhound track anywhere in the world,” Sonia told Chase last month.
“One of the international stories said ‘Aussie bride marries on racetrack’ … there was bit of a spin to it.”
She said the ceremony had been organised by daughter Caitlan, one of the couple’s 10 children.
“We literally had no idea what we were walking into,” Sonia said.
“We’d been engaged for 18 months and Caitlan was the one who was pushing for the wedding to happen, so Warren and I said, ‘we’ll do it’.
The wedding was important as Mrs Kempshall was to undergo a major operation weeks later after battling poor health for years.
“We had a bit of a lull for a couple of years with my health, and Warren has recently had prostate cancer, but he’s dealing with it,” she said.
“We are both going okay at the moment, although we don’t plan too far ahead.
“When we are both going well, the dogs seem to also go well.”
Sonia has been training for about 16 years, while Warren’s been in the game four decades. She said they had 20 dogs in work at their base, south-east of Grafton.
Although it is very much a team effort, she said Warren was the brains behind the operation.
“Young Jasper, he’s the only child at home now, helps me do the yard work with the dogs, while Warren does all the race planning,” Sonia said.
“He works out where the dogs are best suited to race.”
The Kempshalls are full of praise for the new state-of-the-art Grafton track.
“It’s super,” said Sonia, while Warren added, “The dogs actually hit top speed halfway around the circle and not in the straight as you would expect.
“It’s a great track with great facilities.
“All we need now is a two-turn track and they say the old Lismore track would fit inside the new complex at Grafton.”
Over the years the couple have had some handy dogs including Modified Trunk, runner-up to Quara’s Flick in the 2019 Group 3 Townsville Cup, and Aristotle, a winner of 46 races (plus 36 seconds and 24 thirds) from 157 starts.
They have also trained a couple of good dogs for highly successful owner-trainer-breeder Dennis Reid.
1: How and when did you get involved in greyhound racing?
A: While I was living in Townsville in 2007 I received a giveaway and that kicked me off.
2: Who has been the greatest influence on you as a trainer?
A: There have been a few who have helped me over the years including Tony Zammit, Fred Swain and Reg Gardoll.
3: At what age do you start preparing a pup for racing?
A: Around 12 months old. We bring them into the kennels and start preparing them for the breaker.
4: How long does it take to prepare a pup for its first race?
A: It varies from dog to dog. We send them to the breaker when they are 15 to 16 months old and work from there.
5: What makes a good pup?
A: We like calm pups that are sensible. They usually turn out okay. A big motor helps.
6: Do you do anything special when preparing a young dog for its maiden compared to a seasoned performer?
A: We don’t start them until they show us they are ready to go. We like to get them well prepared for the track experience.
7: Do you have a set routine for all your greyhounds or do you vary training for individual runners?
A: We vary our routine from dog to dog. They’ve all got different likes and dislikes, so it’s just a matter of working them out.
8: Do you have any unique or unusual methods you would like to share in regard to training?
A: We try to feed natural food supplements. We’ve used Black Tar and Calcium Plus as long as I can remember, worm regularly and we like to keep them healthy inside as well as outside. We tend not to trial when the dogs are fit and racing.
9: Do you swim your dogs as part of your training regime?
A: We don’t swim our dogs but we’ll take them down to the salt water if required for certain injuries.
10: How frequently do you like to race your dogs?
A: Some dogs race more frequently than others and some handle a bigger workload better than others, but we are happy to race once a week.
11: What’s your training routine for dogs between races?
A: We don’t trial between races. We have three sprint lanes approximately 30 metres long and the dogs go into them every day to work with each other. The lazy dogs go in the outside lanes with a dog that works hard in the middle.
12: Do you do all muscle work on your dogs and treat all injuries?
A: Warren does the muscle work and when in doubt we usually seek advice from other muscle manipulators.
13: Which is the best greyhound you have trained?
A: Well there’s been a few good dogs over the years – Modified Trunk, Aristotle, Price Rise, Salvador – and at present we have a nice bitch called Lexi Boost.
14: What do you consider is the best greyhound track in Australia and why?
A: It’s easy, Grafton. Great track, very safe for the dogs, very well run with great staff.
15: What does the industry need most going forward?
A: Two things: re-homing needs attention and keeping our industry clean and presenting ourselves in the best way possible. Our image is our strength.
16: What is the best advice you could give someone just starting out as a trainer?
A: Training isn’t easy. You just need to put in the hard yards and do your best. There’s plenty of trainers out there who will help you through the process.
