blonde poker forum

Some of you will know I bought a place in Ireland a few years ago which was linked to my other hobby (apart from poker) which is greyhound racing. My dad was a bookie so from the age of 5 I was always being dragged down one of his bookie shops, or to the dogs or horses - it really was a tough upbringing lol  rotflmfao

Anyway, my dad owned dogs and as soon as I could sneak out on my own I'd go to the Wimbledon track and study the form and lose my money. Eventually I decided to buy a dog, that was in 1989, and I've been involved ever since. As my interest grew I found myself going over to Ireland when a good dog was spotted, and over the years have built a good circle of friends over there. So about 5 years ago, with my visits being very frequent, I decided to buy a place over there that needed a lot of work doing to it but I knew that given time and a few quid spending on it, it could be a nice little complex to bring on some nice dogs.

Of course, things dont always go to plan and I found that for various reasons my trips were becoming less frequent. Grass grows very quickly you know, and maintaining a property from afar is not something to be recommended. Fortunately, last October, a good friend of mine who has been involved in the dog game for years was looking to return to Ireland and we worked a deal out for him to run the (yet to be built!) complex. So this year we have embarked on renovating the outbuildings, installing kennels, concreting the barn area and installing paddocks, cutting and bailing an acre field and having puppy runs installed - to name just a few jobs. The improvement in the place has been great to see and we're now ready to breed a few dogs and see how things go - I tried loading photos on here but they were too big or something so you can follow the progress on my blog if this sort of thing interests you: www.landfallkennels.blogspot.com

I'm quite excited today as our first bitch is due to be mated next week so we will have our first pups born late October/early November. I'm sure by then I'd have worked out how to upload photos so I'll keep you updated. Maybe a Blonde night out when one of them has their first race in England in early 2010!

Glenn

Nice read mate and good luck with the venture ...


A question, what is the average cost of buying a dog and having it trained ... just wondering if it would be viable to get a syndicate going :)

FFS!!!  Tipperary?!  We've friends in Tipp too, which means a place for us to crash.  If you land on this side again and don't give us a wee heads up, you're GROUNDED!!!  They look lovely and so does the site.  Be sure to give us a shout next time Landfall Scholes has a run. 

Not a bad idea- could name it Blondepoker.com like devilfish and his horse

Nice one Glen :)  Will keep an eye on the blog

lol @ blondepoker the dog!!

Kev, race dogs (eg those already racing) come in varying degrees of quality. In todays market £1,000 would get a reasonable racer who would win plenty of graded races without being Derby class. Some of the top dogs would only change hands for silly money. Monthly training costs should come to no more than £150 on average allowing for run money.

Buying a young pup at say 12 weeks old is fun (you can dream of owning a champion for a year!) if you are prepared to wait and at that age they'll cost about £600 for a dog and a bit less for a bitch. Some litters will cost more than others depending on the quality of the parents. Rearing the pups will cost say £80 per month until 13 months old when this may rise to say £150 with the schooling costs included. They can start racing at 15 months but most will have their first race at closer to 18 months old.

Laxie, I was down at Cork track a month ago when Scholes was running in a final - he didn't win and we headed back to Tipperary as quickly as we could. But message received, would be great to meet up with you and Timmy again.

OK just got a great idea. Forget the syndicate - when the pups are born I tend to keep some and sell some. One of the ones I keep I'll name Blonde Poker (can't use dots in a name so BlondePoker.com isn,t possible) and I'll make sure progress from day born to first race is posted on here - how does that sound?

Great stuff all around!  Looking forward to the lot!!!

Great read and Good Luck!

Blondepokerdotcom FTW!

nice. gl

ps, take some money off the mug! Sell him a dog and rear it etc for him. Sorted

You have to call one Santa's Little Helper.

:)

promises to be a good read

+1

Just back from a week at the cottage. Here's blondepokerdotcoms mum, definitely in whelp and blondepoker the dog due to hit this world in early November!! Watch this space.

N1, good luck...

Quality stuff Glenn ... cant wait :)

I know nowt about dogs, but good luck Glenn

You are SO GROUNDED Mr. Man!!!!!!!!!!  Where's me whip?!

Listen Mrs Laxie I was stuck in the middle of Tipperary with hardly a minute to myself! No time for all this galavanting and champagne lifestyle that you are so accustomed to! My only indulgence for the whole week was one visit to the local pub, two pints of guinness and a nice roast turkey meal! Next time though .. top of the list... meet mrs and mrs Laxie for a good old fashioned Irish night out!

looking forward to this

be warned though


blondepokerdotcom will

- cost a fortune in investment
- create a great community spirit of railers
- but ultimately be rather slow to make backers money.

Somehow missed this thread first time around. Good read. Looking forward to seeing our adopted pup.

OK, sorry for the delay but at last I introduce to you Lenny or as he will be known on the racetrack..... Blondepokerdtcom

We had a few problems with Shelly and she needed an operation a couple of weeks before the pups were due and as a result she lost her pups, but the main thing is she's 100% now and there will always be another time.

So Lenny has the weight of the forum on his shoulders - and big shoulders they are to! He's 7 months old by an Australian sire called Elite State and the mother is Catunda Olivia a top grade racer herself. I saw Lenny at the weekend and he's looking great, but I didn't get too many photos as it was a bit muddy!

I'll keep you up to date with progress - my next trip is at the end of January and more photos will follow then. His first race will be about this time next year.

   

And one more ......

"Next time" he said.  Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  You are beyond grounded now.

Glenn, Keep these updates coming ... Blondepokerdotcom will be the worlds heaviest backed greyhound when it hits the tracks.

A million thanks for doing this, its superb :)

oops.... next time i promise!!

in my defence i arrived saturday came back sunday but i know you'll not accept that as an excuse!!

next time, trust me.   ;whistle; ;whistle;

 ;nemesis;  That is all

somehow i seemed to miss this thread.

good luck with this glen keep us all updated as much as you can  ;goodluck;

Just for Kev's benefit.

Blondepoker dot com the dog is still alive and well, running around the fields of Ireland, eating everything you put in his way!

His schooling will start in about 4 months time and between then and now there wont be much to say, but we'll plan a good night out when he's ready to rumble!

(I did go over in Feb but no photos, as there was snow all over the place and I didn't want to get my trainers and socks wet!!).

Patience Kev, patience!

An update is an update .... ;)

Cheers

Will be flying out tonight for a few days in Ireland, so picture updates early next week. That's assuming I'm still able to walk as I'm off to Punchestown races tomorrow with the Duke and Mr and Mrs Laxie.
 ;boltpp;

Don't worry.  We'll be good.  Mostly.    ;angel;

So we arrive in Dublin a few hours after Ger and Glenn on the Thursday night.  Don't ever give Ger a 3 hour head start in a drinking session...he won't last the pace.

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009017.jpg)

Luckily Glenn was still able for a laugh.  That's Mr. Laxie with him.  I'm behind the camera. 

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009015.jpg)

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009012.jpg)

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009014.jpg)

Off to Punchestown on Friday and we were spoiled rotten for the day.  Cheers Glenn!!!

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009021.jpg)

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009019.jpg)


Don't ask Ger for horse tips.  His are still running...........or shot. 

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/Laxie/Dublin/01052009018.jpg)


All in all a great day and we can't thank Glenn enough!!!

Great pic's..

Lol at the photos - I dont remember being on the Vodka RedBulls that night but the evidence is there! Great day at the races, I bagged a 14/1 winner near the end and still came out losing!

With a sore head I set off for Tipperary on the Saturday morning and spent a couple of days with the dogs. Blondepokerdotcom is doing well and looks an absolute picture. We took him and his sister off to the schooling track on Sunday. Always a big day after months of waiting but they both went round without hesitation so thats a good start. He's only 12 months old and quite big, so he wont see a track again for at least 2 months, although his sister will be worked a bit sooner as shes smaller and wont need as long.

Blondepokerdotcom is the black dog his sister is the fawn.

Sorry, here he is!!

And one more....

And as we were in Ireland.....

He's a beaut..

I dread to think of your bar bill..lol

Actually, I was quite surprised when we went to fix up the tab for nearly 6 hours of drinking.  Wasn't near what I thought it would be!  We're getting old and slow. 

Latest update...

Last week was the time to get the dog officially named. Unfortunately we couldnet get Blondepokerdtcom or anything that had Blonde as the first word so I expect that the bloke who owns Blonde Dino and all the other Blonde dogs has that prefix registered to himself.  So when ready he will race under the name of ..... GO BLONDE POKER

I'm heading out to see him again in a couple of weeks and we'll be off to the schooling track with him again. He's definitely keen enough so we just need to wait to see if he's fast enough! Hopefully we'll have a bit of fun with him in a few months time.

Let us know his schedule - I am sure we could pop along and rail him at the track - wherever it is.......

A great read Glenn - thanks very much for the updates and photos.

All the best with this venture.

Just spent a week in Ireland with the dogs. Had a good night at Thurles track last Friday as we had one runner and one winner, so put a few euros in the back pocket!

Anyway, our Blonde dog is now 16 months old so it's getting close to the moment of truth. He had a bit of a setback a couple of months ago with a toe injury but he's 100% now, and it was probably a blessing in disguise as he's a big fella and the extra time will do him no harm. He's having a handslip in two weeks time and then we're going to fully school him and see what we have got.

Walking him every day we used to go past an apple tree and at this time of year the apples are falling - He always pulled like crazy to get to that tree and pick up an apple, then he'd proudly walk along the road holding it in his mouth! He's a real character and I keep reminding him that he'd better be fast as the whole forum will be watching closely!

Should be more updates in about a month - I'll keep you posted with trial times etc. I hope he'll be OK, but his sister has been schooling and is a bit slow, but he is a very different build so fingers crossed, whatever will be will be.

Cheers Glenn ... Has he got his blonde badge on his kennel door ?

Sort of - I've left a guinness bobble hat with the Blonde badge plastered on the front over there with strict instructions that when he races the person parading him must wear it! That led to an interesting "you can parade him" debate from all concerned!!

A while since the last update so just for info

Our dog is still alive
He broke another toe so he's been resting!
his toe is now ok
Waiting for weather to improve to start galloping
Patience is a virtue

After lots of hold ups fingers crossed Go Blonde Poker will have his first race within the next 3 weeks. His grading in trials were very modest and he's no superstar, although since grading in he has improved a fair bit on his times.

He'll have his first race at Clonmel and we'll take things from there. He needs to improve a fair bit but hopefully we've now got him free of injury.

Patience is definitely a requirement in greyhound ownership!


 

Best of luck to him in Clonmel Glenn!  Give us the details when you're sure of which race he's in.  Cheers!

+1 good luck!

OK he's making his debut at Clonmel Thurday 10th June race 3 trap 5.

Lets gogogo

http://www.igb.ie/Upcoming-Events/Upcoming-Race-Cards/Upcoming-Race-Summary/view-race-form/?Track=CML&Date=10-Jun-2010&RaceNumber=3

Not a great draw as he'd prefer it nearer the rails but fingers crossed he can finish at least 5th!!

Ahhhh it's great that he's getting a go.  Doesn't matter where he finishes once he does his best.  xx

GL and have fun Glenn,It was good meeting you again at the weekend,what's it like to make a final table live ?

What's it like to remember who you've met? 

WTF are you asking Mond for?!

LOL,I only remember Glenn because he was there from the off on Friday,rest of it's pretty much a blur.Good times.

So true.

I only remembered yesterday that I went to the Holiday Inn on the Sunday after DTD like you said,Ironside sure was there lol,prob was for the best I'm just about recovered now.

I'll be in Vegas on Thursday (blatant brag I know) but if he does OK maybe we can get him down to Cork for a Saturday night meeting. You can show me the delights of the South!

Good to meet you again - but stop browsing and get on with your challenge!!

Did i make a final table? It's all a bit of a blur after 7pm Friday!!

Great weekend and the perfect way to prepare for the next two weeks!

Would be my pleasure!  There's also a racetrack in Tralee and I know both spots well, so either way let's do it!

Wiiiiiiiiii

He won his first race!!!!

Haven't seen it yet just looked the result up.

I told you he was good  ;hide;

Just found this, gr8 read Glenn.  Fantastic result really pleased for you and look forward to the updates on the thread.

Congrats on the win

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii   ;yippee; ;applause;  ;yippee; ;applause;

To think you were happy if he finished at least 5th too!   rotflmfao

WD, WD...we'll keep him another while.

Never been happier for someone outside of my family big guy.

Great stuff.

Geo

bendigedig ;cupcake;

well done

When you are ready to have him included as an asset in the Company accounts, let me know

Congratulations - well done - I have enjoyed following this thread.  PS did your mobile turn up?

No, I saw a kid on a bike pick it up and cycle off faster than I could run (well, he could probably walk faster than I could run!) No worries though, got it stopped and have a new one.

Just watched teh video of the dog - he ran really well charging for the rails from trap 5 and caught the leader off the last bend. You can watch it on www.igb.ie just set up a free account and click on results from clonmel last night. Really pleased for the dog as he's been through the mill with injuries, hopefully he can improve some more as it will get harder from here.

Right, off to play some $1/$2 cash games - I've gone deep in a couple of tournies but not cashed yet. I did donk them off in one rather stupidly but what's done is done!!

I thought there were enough negative entries already!!!

Next stop for Lenny (that's his pet name) is Newbridge on Saturday night, race 4 trap 3.

http://www.igb.ie/Upcoming-Events/Upcoming-Race-Cards/Upcoming-Race-Summary/view-race-form/?Track=NWB&Date=10-Jul-2010&RaceNumber=4

This looks quite tough as the dog in trap 4 looks like it may be destined for bigger things - trained by Fraser Black who only has top class dogs and from the famous Westmead line, I'm sure they will turn up expecting to win. Still, our fella continues to improve in private trials so fingers crossed for a decent run. First three would be really pleasing as this is quite a step up from his first race.

Win or lose, I'm heading over to see him on the 16th so will gwt some photos.

 

Wow - just heard that he won again! Two races, two wins and a really improved time! The Westmead dog was second and was favourite as I expected. This is a really good effort from GO BLONDE POKER I'm off to see him next week so will give him a big pat on the head!!

Link to result below.

http://www.igb.ie/Trainers-Landing/Results/view-results/?track=NWB&date=10-Jul-2010&racenumber=4

Well done!

Skills!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii   ;yippee; ;yippee; ;yippee; ;applause;  Just KNEW he'd do it again!

Well done Glenn & Go Blonde Poker!

Sorry to derail, and congrats on the win..

but FML on the SP's of the greyhounds.

5/4 6/4 9/4 9/4 9/4 3/1

I honestly have never seen such an outrageous book.

202%. I doubt those bookies will be going skint any time soon.

I know, it's comical. 3/1 is the rag of the field! Unfortunately it's pretty standard in Irish racing - In England if a dog finds a load of time the trainer gets called before the stewards to explain, in Ireland they all pat you on the back and say "good job, well done". Our dog found over 80 spots and if that happened in England I'd probably get a fine for time finding. 

...and would the fine be justified?  ;whistle;

Nah lol.

The reality is that the young dogs are still getting used to racing when they first start off and with some the penny drops and they suddenly show a big improvement. I really did not expect this dog to improve the way he has, but when you look back at the long list of injuries he's had (he's the canine version of Darren Anderton), he now seems to be thriving on a period of being injury free.

Next stop Enniscorthy on Monday night! This wasn't really planned, but I have another dog racing in Ireland called Robeen Rogue and we have planned to run him in a competition starting Monday night. We hadn't considered running Go Blonde Poker in it, as we didn't think he would be good enough and in all honesty we wouldn't bother running him if we weren't taking the other fella, who is probably our main hope. However, his last run really surprised us so we'll give it a go but he's up in class significantly and it's more a case of hope than expectation.

On top of all that, I'm flying over tonight for the weekend so will bok him big time!

Link to race below

http://www.igb.ie/Upcoming-Events/Upcoming-Race-Cards/Upcoming-Race-Summary/view-race-form/?Track=ECY&Date=19-Jul-2010&RaceNumber=9

If you get a spare night out of it, you're more than welcome to call to ours and stay the night.

glglgl

Thanks Dawn I fly in tonight and fly back Sunday so it will all be a bit rushed. We'll find a race down in Cork soon, and then have a night out from there!

Wiiiiiiiiiiii - it's a date!  Safe travels and will be throwing all sorts of good luck vibes their way on race night.  xx

Lenny suffered his first defeat on Monday, up in class he didn't lead and got a bump at the first bend. No worries though, he is a bit sore but will be back again soon. I had a nice couple of days with the dogs last weekend, and as you'll see Lenny looks on great form!
Also Steve the trainer has signed up onto the Blonde forum so maybe he'll pop on and say hello soon.

Brilliant stuff Glenn, glad to see the badges being put to good use ... loving it.

Back in business after a few weeks on the sidelines due to a minor injury.
Last week Lenny ran in the first round of a competition - scraped through in 3rd place but was his first run for a while. We thought he would come on for that run and tonight he won his semi final by a short head at 5/1.
So Go Blonde Poker is in his first final at Thurles next Saturday so fingers crossed for a decent showing. The other semi was faster but if he gets in front he'll take some pegging back as hopefully there's a bit more improvement to come.
Downside is I'll be there to bok him!

 

You can run, but ya can't hide.   rotflmfao  Will let you fill them in though.   ;)

The world is indeed a small place

just seen your trialling him at oxford monday glen, whats the plan regards this mate?