In profile: Midway Skipper

A common occurrence in greyhound breeding is the focus on producing early-paced 4-bend dogs in the hope of finding that golden ticket, a Derby winner. Perfectly justifiable for any prospective breeder. However, that shouldn’t take away from the joys of watching a top class staying hound in full flight, and the sport has certainly enjoyed its fair share of marvellous long-distance performers. 

Just over a decade ago the staying ranks were a feature of the sport at its very best, Spiridon Louis (Greyhound Of The Year 2007) carrying all before him with Category One victories in the Regency, TV Trophy & St Leger, whilst Harry Findlay’s Flying Winner, with her finishing flourish over extreme distances, brought back memories and comparisons of the great Scurlogue Champ.

In a golden generation for stayers, another name to enter Greyhound Racing’s Hall of Fame was MIDWAY SKIPPER.

A home-bred, her mother Midway Tomsscout boasted a tremendous strike rate in the middle grades over four bends but found her form hitting a new level over staying trips, the highlight of her career coming with victory in the 2004 Golden Jacket at Crayford. A daughter of super sire Top Honcho, to call Midway Skipper’s introduction to racing underwhelming would be something of an understatement.

Kicking off in A9 grade at Henlow, the feature of her early runs were very slow starts and a tendency to turn in the traps, and she hardly appealed as a crowd-pulling future marathon star. However, in veteran handler Henry Chalkley, Skipper had not only a believer but also a man of patience, and it was clear that like her dam, she needed time to develop.

Fast forward five months from her debut in October 2007, the striking blue and white bitch had improved six grades on home-soil and, in doing so dropped the hint to her canny handler she was ready for a step up in trip and a crack on the open race circuit.

She was quick to rise to the challenge during summer 2008, remarkably making the TV Trophy Final on just her fourth marathon start and finishing a rather unlucky third behind the aforementioned Flying Winner.

That display came prior to fine placed efforts in category one events, latterly the St Leger at Wimbledon. Her very best was always going to lie over marathon trips and her ability to be a lead player on major televised events was crystal clear.

Intriguingly, 2009 saw connections opt to race the bitch at a variety of distances, yet who could question Chalkley? It yielded a fantastic 17 victories at open level, including fittingly, a marathon race at home track Henlow sponsored by her trainer, where she lowered the track record in the process.

Greyhound folk were beginning to marvel at this excellent tracker but there was unfinished business and the TV Trophy stood as connections’ major objective of the year. The £6,000 feature, run at Newcastle’s Brough Park over 895m, saw Skipper struggle to land a telling blow at the semi-final stage, finishing runner-up but disconcertingly trailing winner Bubbly Eagle by some 9 lengths. However, the unpredictability of this sport keeps us enthusiasts at the game and, with nothing untoward to report post-race, it was clear, Skipper was clearly going to come forward plenty for a look around a track that can be difficult to navigate first-time round.

With punters clearly unimpressed, she was allowed to go off an “unconsidered” 10/1 chance for the final, but put in a performance of the highest order, holding off her semi-final conqueror by 1 ½ lengths and improving her own clock by almost 6 lengths.  It was this run televised live on Sky Sports which cemented Skipper as a legend of the sport, although it did make me ponder, like many others I’m sure, what could have been had the race been broadcast as it once was on BBC. The scene had been set, a tenacious, class act who had risen through the ranks. A heart-warming story to capture Joe Public’s imagination, an opportunity certainly missed in my book.                          

Remarkably, the early part of 2010 saw Skipper go winless, yet she still managed a creditable third in the Golden Jacket, a race won by her dam six years previously. Still, the overriding impression was she wasn’t scaling the same heights as 2009, though it was testament to her class that she still made two Group 1 finals.

To my recollection, connections’ thinking fell to the use of suppressants and, with those negated she embarked on another TV Trophy campaign in 2010. Her handler’s understanding of the dog left no stone unturned. The competition that year was run at the West Yorkshire venue of Kinsley and a C&D prep run saw her readily outpointed, but it had served its purpose. Again, friendless in the betting at the semi-final stage, Skipper proved her well-being when making almost all the running, defying odds of 12/1 as she got the better of her old adversary Bubbly Eagle.

That effort left Skipper with a solid chance in the Final, albeit with time to find on that posted by her fellow semi-final winner Taylors Riviera. In that rival she faced stern competition, a very well-established tracker some 16 months her junior, arriving having landed eight of her previous nine starts at the highest level. In stark contrast to her semi-final victory, Skipper found herself in a relatively unpromising position in the decider, racing mid-pack, with ground to make up on her aforementioned rival early doors. A sheer will to win saw the veteran pick the pocket of Taylors Riviera, keeping on powerfully off the final bend to score by three-quarters of a length, lowering the clock in the process.

A hat-trick bid never materialised, understandable for a five-year-old, yet she still managed a further six victories thereafter, her final success coming fittingly back on home-soil in March 2011.

Wonderfully campaigned, a TV Trophy fairytale, Midway Skipper’s legacy continued through her offspring. Whilst confined to just two litters, they were similarly prolific on the track, and remarkably included another Golden Jacket finalist in the shape of Midway Nick.