Hobby trainer Chris Carl knows all about the ups and downs of greyhound racing and he usually has a quip for every situation.
The western Sydney mentor trained Call Me Boz to win at Wentworth Park last Wednesday and Skin Deep to score there 72 hours later so phone callers this week are likely to be greeted with: "Hello, Group Lodge here.''
Carl is famous for his dry sense of humour which extends to yours truly. If I leave any of his runners out of my tips he'll often 'blast' me with comments like, "you've lost your compass'' or "didn't you do the form for my races?''
The 53-year-old believes greyhound racing should be fun and a means of relaxation away for his role as manager of Windsor Leagues Club, a position he has held for 21 years.
"My father Dennis, now a GBOTA director, has owned greyhounds for several decades," Carl said. "When I was a kid he and his trainer Frank Hardman would take me to watch their dogs in action.
"As a 10-year-old I saw their good sprinter Crazy Paving win the Dave Alexander Memorial at Harold Park.
"I bought my first dog, Cahulawassee, from Paul Wheeler's uncle Bruce Wheeler, and Frank Hardman trained it to win a race Moss Vale.
"In 1987 I began training myself with my first winner Lucky Leo, a smart dog who reached the final of the Potential Stakes that year."
Carl went on to score success with other shrewd purchases.
"I had bought Goodbye Fox from Brad Hill Billy's trainer Ray Smith of FORBES, and trainer Dave Jones got her into the 1988 final," he said.
"Goodbye Fox led by 10 lengths at one stage but was caught on the line by Bill Barnett's great sprinter SEE YAH.
"The most successful greyhound I have trained was Irinka Samuel, who won four races at Wentworth Park, three over 720m and one over 520m.
"I have had more success paying small money for ready-made dogs than breeding them because others I purchased include Desolate and Bravado Dos, who each won seven races and Spice Silver who won six.
Carl rates a litter whelped in September 2009 by Surf Lorian from Trendy Habit as his best.
"That litter included Corby, who won 13 races for trainer Robyn Goodwin, including the Dubbo Maiden Classic in April 2011," he said. "It also featured three handy greyhounds I trained, Complicit, Satin Surf and Snoopy Collins.
"Complicit won 28 races, including two at Wenty, Satin Surf won six and clocked 42.60 over 720m at Wentworth Park.
"Snoopy Collins registered a Wentworth Park win among his five victories.
"Satin Surf is breeding on and is the dam of Billy Bowlegs, who won at Wentworth Par for me and scored in 29.78 at Dapto while Osti's Myth, a greyhound I trained to win three races and ring up an exasperating 13 seconds, is the mother of Mizzou Tiger.
"Mizzou Tiger is the best of the 10 dogs in my kennels at present and I am trying to have him ready for Saturday week's National Distance Championship heats.
"He has won over 720m at Wentworth Park in 42.26 but hasn't raced since June when he split the webbing on a foot.
"On the other hand the camaraderie among participants makes up for setbacks like those.
"When an electrical storm blew a huge tree over on my property fellow trainer Harry Sarkis arrived within 10 minutes with a chain-saw to clear the mess. People like him have done me countless favours.''
Like most modern day trainers Chris Carl rates current champion Fernando Bale the best "race dog'' he has seen.
"But I don't think he is as fast as Worth Doing, who broke the race record in the 1989 National Derby and who was named 1989 NSW Greyhound of the Year,'' Carl said.
