The winning breed
DES BARRY hasn’t seen it all, nobody has; over 30 years as a news photographer however has made him very worldly-wise, a little blasé even. Car crashes, train smashes, boat and plane tragedies, up close and personal with the Pope, Christy Ring, Muhammad Ali, Des has all the t-shirts.
But even he was a little fazed. “Janey, will you look at that!” he said, in wonder. Having just seen one dog stand contentedly while being given a comprehensive full-body massage, he was now about to snap another getting his teeth thoroughly brushed.
“Is he getting them ready for the Derby or the debs?” he wondered, only half-joking.
“Sure you wouldn’t get this at Inchydoney Lodge and Spa!”
Owen McKenna, dog trainer extraordinaire, has a phenomenal 2004 strike-rate of one in three, 169 winners from 510 race entries to November 27. But he goes beyond that, way beyond it. Owen McKenna runs a luxury spa-hotel for dogs; he pets them, spoils them, leads them a life of luxury that leaves even a spoiled journalistic photographer jealous.
Currently, McKenna has 24 dogs in training just outside Clonmel; you do not have to be a doggie person to appreciate the care he gives them. One look, that’s all it takes, one look at shining coats, at sleek and rippling muscular bodies, at alert intelligent eyes, informs without need for words; these are animals at the peak of fitness and conditioning. One look at their surroundings, a modern purpose-built heated and air-conditioned structure, with spotlessly-clean individual kennels housing one or (more commonly) two dogs, adds to the impression.
Take a stroll outside; two large beautifully prepared paddocks of a several acres each, round which a couple of cavorting fun-filled dogs are now chasing each other at full tilt; thence to the gallop, a couple of hundred straight yards, uphill all the lung-building muscle-conditioning way, and you begin to understand even more. But, it’s when he begins to talk that you really understand. Owen McKenna is living a lifetime love affair with the greyhound.
Son of the legendary Ger, it was never going to be anything else for young Owen. Dogs were his education, school merely a distraction, a sideshow. “I left school when I was 14, and even when I was there I was hardly there, always bringing dogs for trials, or something. We always had a couple of coursing dogs for the winter, I had no problem getting up in the dark mornings, taking the dogs for a walk, whatever, I enjoyed it. When May came, I left school a month before everyone else, gone to England for the Derby. There’s been times since that I was sorry I didn’t stay on, but then you have a year like I had this year. This was always what I wanted to do, the only thing I can do now. Whether I’m doing it right or not is another thing!”
Oh, he’s doing it right alright. Hidden among the statistics for 2004 above, a number of big-money days. Derby win with Like A Shot, Laurels victory among others with Boherduff Light and the Produce Stakes compliments of Geldrops Touch, combined value, over €200,000. “Only 10% goes to the trainer,” he quickly points out. “Some fellas have more than that written into their contracts, but I don’t.” But money isn’t the be-all and end-all. 24 dogs? He could certainly house a lot more, could also probably charge a lot more, but chooses not to.
Unfortunately McKenna must leave the present premises as owner David Miles is selling up. McKenna, however, is profuse in his praise for the Englishman who had the confidence to set him up in such palatial surroundings three years ago.
“When I buy a place of my own I’ll be cutting down to 20, if I can. I’d rather have quality than quantity. Some fellas can do it, I can’t. I have a couple of lads helping me, but it’s full-time work. I think ten dogs per man is about the maximum you can do properly. I could have a lot more dogs if I wanted, I turn down a lot of dogs. Even if I take a dog, and find it’s not competitive, I won’t keep it.”
How does he decide? “There are a lot of different levels; the thing is to get to know the level they’d be competitive at, and you’d get to know that after a couple of months. There’s no point in me entering a 30-second dog for the Derby, you’re only kidding yourself. If I had a dog and I didn’t think there was any improving in him, I’d be ringing the owner, telling him I wasn’t going to keep him. There’s no point keeping a dog in the kennel just for the sake of a kennel bill; I’d rather have an empty space waiting for something else to come in. I’d tell the owner straight out, you’re only wasting your money.”
Which amounts to? “I charge €60 a week (Dessie: “you wouldn’t get a bath in Inchydoney for that!”), plus minimal expenses. Tonight for example I’m going with three dogs for trials, and all I’ll do is cover the diesel. That’s fair, I think, and that’s enough for me. I’m not in this just for the money.”
GETTING to know the dogs is an integral part of the McKenna method (“there are no secrets,” he assures us). The way the dogs are paired off, for example, is critical. “It’s personality more than anything else. Two dogs won’t always agree; I try to keep a dog and a bitch together if I can, but I have six single kennels in here also. Some dogs just like their own space, like Boherduff Light (who watches us with a lazy eye), a very quiet dog, I had him in with a bitch, and he was actually being bullied a bit. He’s on his own now, prefers it like that. But most dogs like company. That’s Geldrop’s Touch now (indicating another), he won the Produce Stakes, a big classic. He’s a nervous type of dog, so I had him on his own, but he didn’t like it; he’s in with a bitch now and he’s a lot happier. That dog there now, Senahel World is in the Beamish 575 this Saturday night in Cork, I had him kennelled on his own, but he’s a crackpot on his own, jumping up the walls. Since he’s gone in with that little bitch now he’s a lot happier, settled down a lot better. You get to know the dogs, their personality.” Dog psychiatrist? “Yeah, I suppose,” he laughs.
It’s no joke, however, because as any owner, pet or racing, can confirm, every dog does have its own very definite personality. The special racing dog, for example, is as competitive as any human, as hungry for the win. There was the Laurels final in Cork this year, won by Boherduff Light.
“He was drawn in trap two; the dog that was drawn in trap one is a wide runner, likes to come across the track, that was how he’d done his best run, from the middle, in the semi-final. Everyone thought Boherduff would be in trouble out of the box, but I didn’t mind, the whole week I wasn’t afraid, I knew the dog’s ability. It was his fourth final of the year, and he’s a great competition dog, a real battler, will never let you down.”
Even Owen was surprised with how his own dog acted on the night, however. “It was almost human, almost as if Boherduff had been reading the papers himself in the build-up, the way he anticipated that Cavecourt Jon would come out and try to cut across him, blow him out of it; he was the one who gave Cavecourt Jon the nudge, get out of my way, and went on to win.”
Boherduff Light is a particular favourite of the trainer’s and clearly a big contender for Dog of the Year.
“He won the Stake in Youghal, broke the track record twice, he won the Kilkenny Derby, broke the track record twice there as well, so he has four track records on his card for this year, along with the Laurels. Most dogs peak for about six weeks, maybe two months, in the middle of the year; he’s been on the go since February, a long year, beaten some of the best. It’s not for my sake, but if ever a dog deserved to have that award on his record, he does.”
Since this interview took place, Owen has won further honour, Senahel World winning that Beamish 575; this Saturday night, he has Great Lark, the raging hot favourite, chasing the Irish Examiner 750 in Cork. McKenna is a master of his craft, statistics to match, to exceed even, any other in any sport you care to mention.
:
: The diet has a lot to do with it, but I’m not big into tonics in their diet, or anything like that. Once the beds are clean and dry, and they’re changed regularly here, they’re warm, rubbed up and content. Sure isn’t the same as yourself, once your warm and well-fed, what more can you ask?
: I don’t walk dogs. The day I pick up the paper and see a walking competition advertised with €50,000 for the winner, I’ll start walking them. I let them gallop, give them a bit of freedom, let them out there in the paddock and run around the place. That’s my way of doing things. Occasionally I might take a dog for a walk myself just for a change, to freshen him up, but that’s it. Coursing dogs need a lot more exercise, they need walking alright, but track dogs, no, just keep them happy, keep them fresh.
: Keep them happy, keep them sound through the competition, above all, keep their routine. A dog has to be in a routine; if you start to change things halfway through, you’re gone before you start. If I’m doing something wrong myself at a specific time every day, doesn’t matter; as long as I’m doing the same wrong at the same time every day, I can still be happy. Same for dogs. They get into a routine, they know when they should be fed, when they should be out for a gallop. You wouldn’t need any clock, you could train dogs to their clock, their routine.
: I’d only gallop them once a week, twice some of them, but they’re out in the paddock four or five times a day.
: Cereal and bread early in the morning, tea, fish, cook some raw meat in the evening with nuts, pasta, soup.
: None. The dogs have to well fed, well looked after, keep them happy, keep them fresh, that’s all that’s to it. A big field, let them run around, they’ll get fit themselves.
