Fruity Unity gains first victory for syndicate owned by kids for trainer Dean Blackbird
Syndicate created by Ross Miller purely for kids lands it's first winner with Fruity Unity making all the running at Sunderland on Tuesday
Fruity Unity gains first victory for syndicate owned by kids
Dean Blackbird's recent intake Fruity Unity has 25 owners who will generate more noise when their new bitch runs than most. That is because they are all youngsters who are part of a drive by Ross Miller in a bid to generate interest in the sport of greyhound racing from the next generation. All 25 shares were given away for free under guardianship of their parents who will be the 'official' owners, although the greyhound will belong to the kids.
On Tuesday, Fruity Unity got her head in front for the first time at the seventh time of asking as she trapped well and made all the running in a D5 contest at Sunderland in a time of 16.45 at odds of 9/4, her best time recorded at the track.
"The idea originally came from when a dog that Kaitlin Petch and myself used to own (Romeo To Victory) who was winning lots of opens at Sheffield" Miller told us. "The track would do a meet the stars after the dogs ran and the idea came from seeing all of the happy faces. Recently the kids at Sunderland did a sponsored walk with the rehoming dogs. We need the younger generation to keep the sport going.
"In Ireland you see the kids parading the dogs but we’ve had to do it under the parent guardianship. The 25 shares went to people from all over the country and it took less than two hours for them all to be taken!
"A lot of people do syndicates but it seems to be focused more on people with money so I spoke to Dean Blackbird and said let’s do this, I’ll purchase the dog and I’ll give 25 shares away under the guardianship of their parents.
"I’m going to do it again, I’m going to try and do it more and more, they all want to come and see the dog run. I send them regular updates of the dog like when she’s going to be marked up which will be next week. We’ve started a WhatsApp group with all of the parents on and they sent all of the pictures of the kids with their share certificates."
