Trainer Chat- Milner looking to go under the radar in Derby bid
Doncaster Trainer Phil Milner has a team of four going to Towcester but find out who is his best chance, who he would like to have in the kennel that’s not his own, and what it would mean to win a Derby
Trainer Chat- Milner looking to go under the radar in Derby bid
Doncaster trainer Phil Milner heads to Towcester with a team of four, looking to land a first Derby title with his homebred runners Keefill Goose, Keefill Maverick and Keefill Rocky, along with Avongate Venus
Best Chance: “It would have to be Avongate Venus if she comes back to her form from last September. Between July and September, she won seven races in a row at Towcester including the Empress Final. She beat Table Toppers, New Destiny, Icemans Girl and she equalled the track record of 28.52 with Barntick Bear. She’s one of those bitches who wants the sun on her back, so I put her away for the winter. She hated the winter, so providing she doesn’t come into season, and we can get her back to the form we know she can produce, and she is starting to show it as she trialled well the other day, I’d say that any bitch that is capable of doing 28.52 round Towcester has to be my best chance
Surprise Package: “I mean I can’t believe he’s that big in the betting but Keefill Goose. The bookies have got him in as the outsider of my four, the other day in a trial he did a 28.83 calculated and he ran a stomer behind Cheap Sandwiches a couple of weeks ago, he’s in great form and he loves Towcester. He loves the curved boxes and he’s a different dog out of them. He’s a bit stronger than the other two, so he’d be the one to cause a surprise.
If you could train any other dog in the Derby, who would it be: “Can I have two! I can’t split between the two, one is Proper Heiress. I think the dog is an absolute monster, I’ve followed him from the start and since he’s been coming out straight from the boxes and not being draw dependant, he’s just become a beast of a dog. The other one, I mean Maxine Locke’s got a brilliant kennel heading into the Derby, but that pup of hers Headford Asher, his action out of the boxes, his early pace and his attitude with his racing, I know people say he is only a pup but that was one of the best displays I’ve seen from a pup in a long time. If they can keep improving him throughout, I think he could be a right dog
Favourite Derby Memory or Highlight: “I haven’t been training long enough to have my own, last year was about learning for us. Our runners were young and were pups but me and Keely learned an awful lot from going. But I’m going to go back to 1999 with Chart King and Deerfield Sunset. My family were never really into Greyhounds but I remember watching it on Sky Sports and getting the Greyhound Monthly, and the build up to that Derby and the battle between those two will always stick in my mind, that was a brilliant Derby
What would it mean to win the Derby: “Imagine it, for me if you’re training Greyhounds it has to be a dream. I’ve got another job, and I wouldn’t be doing the hours that we do and make the sacrifies we make if I didn’t want to win the Derby. The Derby is the pinnacle and the fact that we breed our own dogs, the goal is to breed a Derby dog. I posted on X the other day that I can’t believe that I’m going into the Derby with four Greyhounds who have all broken 29.00 seconds round Towcester.
In my head, we are an outsider, but when you look at that, then you think maybe we can go under the radar a bit. All of a sudden you steel a couple of rounds, a lot of mine have the early you need,and if they keep coming out then you dare to dream. It’s the ultimate test of a trainer, we are all trying to squeeze out that extra bit and get a dog to recover inbetween rounds. The guys that do it year in year out consistently know how to do it in a Derby and that’s what we are aiming for
