Pam Burns with her grandson Brodie Sanza and Cranbourne Cup winner Arvo’s Florence. 42197
By Ben Hope
KOOWEERUP greyhound trainers Terry and Pam Burns couldn’t have asked for a better return to the sport than winning the Cranbourne Cup.
The couple began training Cranbourne Cup winner Arvo’s Florence four months ago after returning to greyhound racing after a 25-year break.
The Arvo’s Syndicate-owned dog won the $30,000 cup race by three lengths after starting from box seven.
“He had a great run, although he wasn’t the favourite and went in with nine to one odds,” Mr Burns said.
“People tell me he’s one of the best bloodlines around, with his sisters having some relation to Brett Lee.”
“He’s only had 16 starts so far, and is still only young with a good career ahead. I will have to sit down with his owners and see where they want to go from here.”
Twenty five years ago the Burns’ lost all their pups and dams to the Parvovirus and decided to leave the sport. Now owners of Kooweerup’s TPK and T Nursery, they returned to greyhound racing two years ago after Terry got talking to a friend about the sport.
“I was helping renovate a house and I saw the owner’s greyhounds out the back. He started telling me how he was doing alright with them, so I thought I’d get back into it,” Burns said.
“I was lucky enough to get a few dogs of my own as well as training a few more for the Arvo’s Syndicate, including Arvo’s Florence.”
However, it wasn’t only the money that had Burns back in the sport.
“I’m 70 now and at my age you can start to get a little bit lazy. Training greyhounds gives you something to get out of bed for and keeps you occupied,” he said.
“Owning and training greyhound gives a great deal of satisfaction no matter whether you have winners or losers.”
With many years of training experience behind him both Terry and his wife Pam know how to train a winning dog.
“If you were training yourself and wanted to build muscles, you would go to the gym and ask a trainer how to do it. With greyhounds you need a trainer who knows how to train them to run and win.”
“Pam has been working with greyhounds since she was five. Her father trained greyhounds for his friends. I have been around them a while too, I used to help feed racing dogs at the age of eight.”
It is this experience, combined with a respect for the breed as both racing dogs and companions that Burns believes is essential to training greyhounds.
“All greyhounds are working dogs until they can’t race anymore. Then they are pets. If they aren’t part of the family, you’re wasting your time.”
“But they have to be kept locked up when they are not training, you can’t do anything with them otherwise. A dog isn’t going to run on the track if he has been running around the back yard all day.”
The couple haven’t started breeding their own dogs but plan to in the future, beginning with Societies Girl, once she finishes her racing life in the next year.
“It’s called not relying on your neighbour, it’s better to have your own dogs and any trainer’s ultimate goal is always to have your own litter,” he said
“Unless of course I get offered a great couple of dogs to train, then there would be no point in breeding my own.”
“Everyone can’t win. All owners who breed litters think they can run, but you have to be careful. It comes down to the luck of the game, we all want good dogs, but we can’t all have them. I have been lucky enough to train a few of them.”
