WHEN Fergie Pepper scored her second Wentworth Park win in three starts for hobby trainer Aaron Williams on Saturday night she maintained her 82-year-old owner-breeder Frank Jeffcoat's involvement which spans over six decades.
Jeffcoat was a successful trainer from 1960 until recently when he transferred his greyhounds to Williams and another Ray Thomas, another young trainer, explaining: "My wife Jacqueline is unwell and because I need to look after her I can't travel to race meetings any longer.''
But for Jeffcoat, who breeds greyhounds from his property at Cowra, his enthusiasm has never wavered, not surprising considering he got off to a flying start in the sport.
"When I was 19 I was employing 10 people running a carpet business at Bexley and a friend talked me into accompanying him to Bulli dogs,'' Jeffcoat recalled.
"He said he knew a certainty there and when we arrived he asked me how much money I had on me.
"When I replied there was 300 pounds ($600) in my wallet he instructed me to put it all on his good thing.
"Being a bit naive I did as he instructed and when the dog won at 16/1 ($17) I cleared 4800 pounds ($9600) which was enough to buy a new house in those days.
"Naturally I was 'hooked' so I went out and bought and trained my first greyhound, Crystal Pepper.
"She won 15 from 30 races for me and when I bred from her produced Valid Pepper, who outpaced Glider's Son in a qualifying heat for the 1980 Paws Of Thunder before splitting the webbing on her foot.
"Glider's Son went on to win the final while another bitch I bred, Darlin' Pepper, represented NSW in the 1983 National Sprint Championship won by Winifred Bale.
"Because I was running a carpet contracting business I couldn't race at day meetings but my wife Jacqueline and I would race our dogs at four or five night meetings every week.''
Jeffcoat explained that Fergie Pepper was somewhat of a lucky acquisition for trainer Aaron Williams, a 31-year-old chef.
"Aaron came to Cowra to buy a greyhound called Hay Pepper from me but I told him if he was separated from his litter sister Fergie Pepper, who was his best mate, they would both fret.
"That has worked out well so I am going to mate another of my bitches, Sassy Pepper, to Aston Dee Bee, because their offspring will also have a double cross of Bombastic Shiraz in their pedigrees.
"Owning and breeding greyhounds gives me an excuse to get up in the morning and I am as excited about the sport as I was 60 years ago.''
