Trainer Chat- Rees to give Syd one more crack at the Derby

Pagan Swallow and Mutts Silver have won the Derby for the Rees family, Is this year the turn of Churchfield Syd?

Hove trainer Richard Rees heads to Towcester with a team of five runners this year, 40 years on from when his father Philip Rees Jr won the 1985 Derby, the first to be held at Wimbledon, with Pagan Swallow (above). Team Rees will be represented by Churchfield Syd, Uncle Freddie, Nine Percent, Zenith Quincy and Scooby Pacemaker

Best Chance: “You’ve got to say Churchfield Syd. He finished fourth in the final last year, he's got so much early pace and should get his draws out wide. He’s going to have a final go at the Derby but if he gets knocked out, then we will look to run him one more time on final’s night in a one-off race and then that will be his lot, he will be retired. He’s had an amazing career and owes us nothing and deserves to go out at the top”.

Surprise Package: “You could throw a blanket over ours to be honest, there’s nothing much between them at all. Nine Percent won a trial stakes last week, he ran well to pick up the winner and seems to run the track well. Zenith Quincy went well in a trial yesterday. I don’t know to be honest with you, like I say you could cover them all with a blanket they are that well matched.

If you could train any other dog in the Derby, who would it be: “Proper Heiress. I think he’s a cracking animal. What he did at Monmore was incredible. He may have taken a bit of time to settle in but he’s a different greyhound now. I think he can maintain his current form, I don’t think that he has been pushed too hard, which is something Mark wouldn’t do anyway, but I just think he’s got the all round package. I know Bockos Diamond didn’t trap well on Sunday in the Juvenile, but Heiress is a proper, proper dog.

Favourite Derby Memory or Highlight: “I’ve got so many! It’s hard…I was thinking about this yesterday. We’ve been very fortunate to have had three finalists, and there’s trainers that can go their entire life without even getting one, so we’ve been blessed to have three. I know how hard it is now, and we may not ever get another one again.

"I don’t know….I’ll probably have to say my Dad winning with Pagan Swallow back in 1985, so that’s 40 years ago this year. I can remember my Grandad’s dog Mutts Silver winning the final in 1976 (above) when I was 10 and having to listen to it on the radio at home! I can remember that as clear as a bell, there’s just so many I could choose from”.

What would it mean to win the Derby: “It would be unbelievable. Every year I get some stick as my Grandad and Dad have won it previously and I get told that it’s going to skip a generation, and to be perfectly honest with you, if it did miss me and Charlie were to win it, it would feel just the same. 

Every year I get “When are you going to do it, your Grandad’s done it, your Dad’s done it”… I mean it’s only a joke and it is funny don’t get me wrong, but it would mean the world to me”