PGA Features

In the home he's simply big Joe but under the bright lights of a racing track he's transformed into Homewood's Hound.

The sleek 16-month-old greyhound is the latest to have the affections and aspirations of North Downs head PGA pro Mike Homewood, who has been racing his canine companions for nigh on 15 years - almost as long as his professional golf career.

Homewood's enthusiasm for a night at the dogs is bursting at the seams and equally infectious judging by the response of his members at North Downs who have literally bought into the idea by taking shares in their own hare chaser, named after the club.

And it seems that the 41-year-old, who has been at the club for 14 years, has done them a good turn judging by the dog's record in the less than predictable trackside arena.

"I've got the members at the club in shares in North Downs Boy, known as Paddy to us," said Homewood.

"He's three coming up four and he's had 40 odd races and won half a dozen of them.

"The members all used to ask me about my runners and one day I said we'd got some available and Nick my barman said he was interested and another said the same and it spiralled from there.

"Now, as soon as I get to work it's 'how's the dog'. It's bonded the club and the next thing I'm looking to do is organise an evening when the dog's running and we'll all go out with our wives and girlfriends and go have dinner and make a night of it."

Homewood, now in his 21st year as a PGA professional having started out at Coulsden, could never have imagined what lay in store when he and another of his golf colleagues agreed to part with their hard-earned cash for a share of Ricky's Mate.

He bought it off trainer Dave Puddy back in the early 90s and the two have been in tandem ever since when it comes to the dogs.

"I bought Ricky's Mate with another of the assistants at Coulsden and he was a fantastic dog," said Homewood.

"One time he got to a big final of a competition called the Scurry Cup, which was held at Catford. It was a 380-yard race which he won at 16-1 in the first round - those were the days.

"But it was quite funny because I went out and bought a TV that morning with teletext on it, which was the first time we'd had it. The wife was expecting our first child so stayed at home but what I didn't know was that she was watching the live betting on the teletext.

"We had a couple of hundred quid on Ricky's Mate and she knew how much I'd got on the dog. When I got back I told her he'd won at 8-1, thinking I'd pocket a few quid, but she went 'no, it was 16-1'. So I wasn't able to pull a fast one and there she was waiting for the money."

While the golf remained a sole sphere for Homewood, who has served his timed around the Surrey stockbroker belt with spells at Goodwood, Cuddington and Tyrells Wood golf clubs, greyhound racing is very much a family affair.

Unable to pull the wool over the eyes of his wife Jackie, back in the dim and distant past, she has become an integral part of the Homewood racing clan, with sons Daniel and Dean also getting caught up in the whole cut and thrust of the greyhound scene.

However another far from routine adventure with Ricky's Mate summed up the appeal to Homewood.

"I took the wife away on holiday when the boy was only six months old," said Homewood, whose eldest son in now 13.

"We went to Clacton for a few days and I said to Dave, I'll meet you at Peterborough, for the Derby, which was a big competition because there was £10,000 to the winner.

"We arrived at the track but there was no sign of Dave and you have to register no later than an hour before the start of the race.

"Eventually he arrives and he explained his car had broken down on the other side of the Dartford Tunnel and you can imagine how far that is from Peterborough.

"He hadn't been able to fix it so he had to get a taxi, with the dog in the back, all the way to Peterborough. If that wasn't enough the dog then finished fifth so it was a bad night all round."

Since Ricky's Mate there has been a succession of runners including the likes of Ang Jack and Point Me Home that have brought the Homewoods their fare share of pain and glory out of the traps.

But it was the romantically named Fandango Classic that looked like making the hobby even more profitable as she won 16 Open races before a broken leg brought her career to an end.

However, she is the mother of Homewood's Hound who is poised to follow in her footsteps in the not too distant future with plans for him to make his debut at Reading, where Homewood now races.

But Homewood, whose first day as a golf assistant at Goodwood Golf Club
saw him selling umbrellas to the punters flocking to Glorious Goodwood, hasn't taken his eye of the day job at North Downs - although fitting it playing, teaching, running the shop and then getting to the races can prove the most difficult factor.

"I still make sure I'm here for the members, especially at weekends," he said.
"The racing is a hobby not a business. We've been fairly successful. We've done well but we're not in it to make fortunes out of it. It's just something different and it's a family thing.

"But the golf is still the bread winner. The racing is an after work thing, as it doesn't take long to get most of the courses.

"I still enjoy pro-ams and company days but that's only May to September. October through to May there's not so much going on so getting to the racing is easier."

Mike Homewood is a PGA professional at North Downs Golf Club - contact him on 01883 653 004.