![]() ![]() ![]() The GBGB Calendar for next year is coming together nicely with the destination of the Derby, as ever, crucial to the detail. Great to hear that both Arc and the GVC-owned tracks have underwritten their support of open racing - and the sport itself - with various commitments on the major events in 2021. How and where that will be presented is still to be decided - a virtual GBGB Greyhound of the Year Awards is mooted - but either way it will be celebrated. ![]() Plenty of points therefore to be won, but however it pans out a new name will be on the famous Trainer of the Year trophy. The Essex Vase final is next up on Friday, the day after the Property192 Oaks heats at Swindon and a day before the Coral Olympic heats at Hove - so there are plenty of major trophies up for grabs even before we start talking the BGBF British Bred Derby at Sheffield and the RPGTV National Sprint at Nottingham. Head man then was Mark Wallis, Linda’s son-in-law. That gave him a sizeable lead - and one which he’s never really looked likely to relinquish with big-race successes for dogs like Bockos Doomie (Coral Sussex Cup), Kilara Lion (RPGTV Yarmouth Derby, Ladbrokes Kent Derby) and Desperado Dan (Coral Champion Stakes, Ladbrokes Gold Collar) flying the flag for the Norfolk-based kennel.īelgium-born Janssens raced greyhounds at Geldrop and Amsterdam as a young man before heading to Ireland to work for Matt O’Donnell and then Pat Dalton, two legendary names, for a short time before heading to the UK where he joined Linda Jones at Imperial Kennels. He holds a contract at Central Park and actually pushed Wallis close last year, racing to the front in the Trainer of the Year race before being overhauled in the last quarter of the campaign.Ī truncated 2020, given opens were not staged between late March and early July due to the first lockdown, always gave Janssens a chance to slip the chasing pack - especially when the likes of Skilful Sandie won him the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket, Goldies Hoddle the Coral Golden Sprint and the unfortunate Headford Ranger the RPGTV Steel City Cup. Janssens initially left Wallis’s to take over a pet products business, which he still runs, before returning to training with a small number of open racers which has expanded. It was Cheryl who paraded Kinda Ready, Mark’s first Derby winner in 2009. The pair are good friends, with both Patrick and his wife Cheryl having worked for Mark for many years. Wallis, who first became Trainer of the Year in 2005 and whose never-to-be matched 11 titles include holding the mantle of champion trainer for the past eight years, remains one of the sport’s greatest trainers - and ambassadors.įiercely competitive, as you have to be at the top of any field, he will not take any pleasure handing over the trophy to anyone - but with Patrick it’s probably different. That’s an argument for another day, however, but now it’s about celebrating his handler’s list of successes in 2020 which has seen him wrest the title from his former boss Mark Wallis. Dan now becomes a major contender for Greyhound of the Year honours - especially should he win the Essex Vase. It means additional points for the Janssens team and, while absolutely not the way he would have chosen to have added another major success to his growing CV and portfolio of winners, it is what it is. ![]()
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