The Desert Orchid of dogs?
You would believe a dog could fly, had you stood with me in the betting ring at Walthamstow Stadium last year when Barnfield On Air “did the clock” (broke the track record in non-dogspeak) and made pedigree opponents look like mere mongrels. He really seemed to be floating on air rather than running on wet sand.
Barnfield On Air has been the wonder dog of the past 12 months, breaking four track records. He lives a rather exclusive dog’s life at his kennels in Billericay, Essex, where Jack, as he is known, breakfasts on sardines on toast before sessions with his personal trainer and masseur and a swim in the pool. But on the track he is all business, racing at a top speed of more than 40mph. Here is a sporting superstar never shamed on the front pages, who will save the bed-hopping for when he is retired to stud. Good judges have called him a dog in a million, and Sam Poots, trainer and co-owner, says he would not sell him even for that many pounds.
Although surprisingly beaten in the vote for Greyhound of the Year by the marathon champion Spiridon Louis, Barnfield On Air has ruled the sport’s blue riband four-bend races (run between 450 and 500m). He dominated the early betting for the show-case Blue Square Greyhound Derby, to be run at Wimbledon throughout May. A stately procession through the competition to a coronation on Derby Final night was widely expected.
Yet such is the dynamic nature of dog racing that, even before he has been crowned, young pretender puppies are already challenging him for the throne. On Tuesday the latest sensation, Ballymac Under, recorded the ninth straight victory of his unbeaten career and was promoted to Derby favouritism. Almost overnight, it may seem, Barnfield On Air has gone from new champion to a Rocky-style veteran seeing off the upstarts. And he isn’t even three years old until later this month. The arrival of these superstars is a timely boost for a sport that has seemed to be in long-term decline. Under pressure from changes in the leisure market, property developers and the vociferous animal welfare lobby, greyhound racing has worked hard to improve its image and facilities. Now it may have the dogs to match.
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Next week Barnfield On Air runs in the Ladbrokes.com Arc, the big four-bend championship at my local stadium, Walthamstow – one of two tracks remaining in London, and the best in Britain by a distance. In a world of shrink-wrapped entertainment, dog racing remains sport red in tooth and paw, a thrilling combination of animal instinct and human skill. I advise anybody who loves real sport to go and see these dogs live while you have the chance, before they are all replaced by the “virtual” greyhound racing now offered in betting shops, where they run on computer screens rather than on air.