There were plenty of butterflies beforehand, but Wendy Saathoff’s first day as a greyhound handler is a day she’ll long remember.
Last Sunday afternoon Saathoff and her partner Simon headed to headquarters with a team of three chasers. Before a large contingent of excited family and friends, Saathoff made her handling debut with Diesel’s a A Rebel, a striking 34kg white and black chaser who can get a little excited on race day.
“The nerves were terrible, I couldn’t eat!” she said once it was all over.
“He’d never been to Sandown either so for both of us it was a new adventure. I was so nervous, all I kept thinking was my dog is going to be naughty and take off and I’m going to be flying like Mary Poppins.”
Looking up into the grandstand and seeing so many supporters helped to calm the nerves, as did the support of the staff, stewards and fellow handlers.
“All of my family and Simon’s family were there. I had a group of friends come and it was great to see everyone. My mum was taking happy snaps everywhere. Everyone was really proud and really happy. It was a great day, we actually stayed all day.
“Once it was done I was like ‘that wasn’t so bad.’ Everybody was great, helping me to kennel them and everything. It was like everyone must have known and everyone was really, really nice. I think they could tell it wasn’t easy being my first time but I was really rapt with how everyone was. It was really good.”
Adding to the thrill of the day was the fact that Saathoff had bred and reared Diesel’s A Rebel, a member of the first litter the couple had bred. While a relative newcomer to the sport, her passion for all aspects of greyhound racing has grown quickly since first being introduced to the greyhound breed.
“Simon has been in it for years and years and years and we got together a number of years ago. He had the greyhounds already, but I’d already fallen in love with them through all my customers coming in with greyhounds.
“I own a pet supply store where I sell fresh pet meat so I have a lot of clients that have greyhounds. I went from not knowing much about the breed to falling in love them, then I decided that I was going to give racing a go. I do all of the rearing and loving of the dogs you could say, and then I decided to go for my trainers license which I passed last Tuesday. I got to handle for the first time in a race with a dog I bred which was great.”
The passion and enthusiasm for the sport has ensured each of their runners has plenty of interested onlookers, especially since so many people have shared in the greyhound’s journey to the track.
“Any of our customers can go in and play with them and watch their progress. Everyone follows my dogs, it’s been really good for helping people realise that greyhounds really are a beautiful breed.”
Diesel’s A Rebel finished fourth in his race, a result which delighted Saathoff particularly since Simon handled their other runner, Axel’s A Rebel which finished behind them, giving her bragging rights over her partner.
“Yeah, all the way home,” she said, laughing.
“It’s been heaps of fun, I love it.”
