Liz and Rab McNair announce retirement plans

Retirement on the horizon for Liz and Rab McNair

Liz and Rab McNair are to retire from the sport in July.

News broke on Sunday afternoon that the husband and wife team, a successful training and breeding partnership for many years along with the Brendan Keogh-led KSS Syndicate from their base in Ashford, Kent, are to hang up their leads.

“We just feel it’s the right time,” said Rab McNair. “We’ve had family issues to deal with. Our daughter had breast cancer and, while we’re delighted to say she’s cancer free, she’s been through a lot - and it’s time to get to Scotland to give her a big daddy cuddle!”

Rab McNair said losing his great friend Jimmy Wright to motor neurone disease last year also made him take stock of the situation.

“It does make you think,” he said. “Myself and Liz want do some travelling at some point but we’re going home first. That said, everything will take time to sort out, so we’ve set ourselves a July deadline.

“The boss (Brendan Keogh) has been brilliant about it. He understands and still plans to keep the breeding side of things going which is great.”

The Kings and Queens of the KSS Syndicate have plundered a host of major races over the years - and Rab said it was tough to single out a particular success, although winning with any of their home-breds was extra special.

“King Elvis winning Greyhound of the Year would be right up there, of course, but actually winning the seniors race on Derby final night gave me some of the biggest thrills.

“I think we won it three or four times. Warzone Tom and Queen Beyonce both won it - and they are both up there with the best we’ve trained along with the likes of Elvis and King Memphis and so many others. We’ve been lucky.

“We've worked hard, but we’ve been lucky to have some fantastic facilities to work with at the kennels, and great people like Brendan (Keogh), Simon (Senyk) and Ian (Openshaw) supporting us.”