Leading the charge

If it weren’t a dream, this weekend’s National Coursing Meeting could be a logistical nightmare for prolific trainer Ger Holian.

In a stunning season, which has yielded nine All-age Cup successes and numerous Trial Stake victories, the handler has an unprecedented 13 runners to transport from his base in Athenry, Co. Galway to the three-day meeting in Powerstown Park, Clonmel.

Holian has enjoyed considerable success at the meeting and has brought eight runners in a previous year, but the responsibility of handling such a numerically strong team has weighed on his mind.

“You remember the time you never had a runner and you realise how great it is to have so many,” he says. “But it could be too many. I’m very excited but just hope I don’t get too nervous.

“When I won the Derby with Murtys Gang I only had two greyhounds. I’ve had seven or eight runners at the meeting in the past but never this many.

“I would hate it if they all ran bad. You think you have 13 and you’re great but Clonmel can humble you very quickly.

“It’s unknown territory — I could lose the head when I see the Lodge Gate.”

It won’t happen, of course. His record speaks for itself. Two Derby victories (Murtys Gang in 2002, Adios Alonso in 2010), one Oaks success (Rith Gan Gaisce in 2005), three Champion Stakes wins and numerous consolation stakes, provide ample evidence that Holian is adept at producing them in peak condition on the day.

“The hard work is done,” he continues. “We started preparing them seven or eight weeks ago and at this stage we’re just waiting for the days to go by.

“It’s a worry that everything won’t go very well. You really don’t want to blow it. It’s where you want to be, what you’ve worked for all season.

“I’ll bring the dogs down to Pat Buckley’s kennels, in Cappawhite, a few days before the meeting. I should have them all down by Thursday evening.

“I’ve won a trophy every year I’ve stayed with Pat so it’s been very lucky for me and I’m just hoping that run can continue.”

Holian is one of the dominant forces in the sport right now but what’s the secret to his success?

“You need a lot of hard work and a lot of common sense,” he explains. “They need to be awful fit but some dogs can’t take the hard work.

“You can go to the track, run around it once and not have to come back for another week. But they could go up the field, get a hunt for 30 seconds and have to go back up an hour later. They must have great powers of recovery. If you have a fast one with that, you should go close.

“A lot of it is bred into them. Coursing breeding will stand up better than on the track — a good coursing bitch will usually breed well.”

It’d be folly to dismiss them out of hand but, by Holian’s own admission, his three challengers for the Derby, led by In Cahoots, are considered outsiders for the big prize.

Not so his six-strong challenge for the Greyhound and Pet World Oaks, which is headed by the much-touted Blades Of Steel.

The bitch has been at the head of the betting for the competition since she qualified in Rathkeale on her first outing under Holian’s care.

“I would never compare them but she certainly has the speed. A lot of people say the Musical Time’s (progeny) won’t go up the hill in Powerstown Park but I had her mother, Blades Of Glory, and she would climb any hill.

“When they come in, you don’t care who their mother or father is. You just want to do the best for the owner, for the dog, and for yourself.

“Her litter sister, Blades Of Joy, is considered the outsider of my six but if I have five better than her, I’m in some position.”

It’s unfortunate that his two definite starters in the Champion Stakes, Bridewell Kieran and Latest Trick, go head to head in the first round, but it hasn’t tempered the trainer’s hopes of lifting the trophy.

“I couldn’t be sure which of them will win, but I would be hopeful that whichever it is, he could go on and win the stake. They’re both very good dogs.”

His sole challenger in the Champion Bitch Stake is Bossa Nova Babe, a daughter of his former Oaks winner, Rith Gan Gaisce, and he insists if she can get over the first round, she will have a great chance.

Like her kennel companions, if she’s good enough, she won’t fail for having had the most meticulous preparation. But Holian remains cautiously optimistic.

“Just because you have a lot of runners doesn’t mean you’re sure to win,” he reasons.

“The key is, when you have one good enough to win in Clonmel, not to let the opportunity slip by.”