Introducing Paul Lawrence: Pompey Ventures Resident Greyhound Racing Expert
- PV Team
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Paul Lawrence (aka PL) & his partner Lorraine have been involved with Greyhounds their whole lives. Paul has made his living from betting on Greyhounds for many years & is also involved in the commentary for the Derby along with being on ‘Gone to the Dogs’.
Lorraine used to train greyhounds and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport & its competitors. Needless to add, both are absolutely top class humans!
Interested in how we buy our dogs? Ever wondered about PL, the knowledge and expertise behind the Pompey Ventures Kennel? We asked Paul about how it all began...
The Start of an Obsession...
I first went greyhound racing in 1981. In the September of 1980, I left home in Boston, Lincolnshire to start my very first job as an 18-year-old as a trainee at Ford Motor Company in Essex. Whilst at training college, one of our tutors recommended that our group of students should go for a night out at the nearest dog track, Romford Stadium. Our tutor, Paul, was from Birmingham and he had regularly gone to Monmore Green and Perry Barr in his younger years. As a youth in Boston, I had never had that much interest in greyhound racing or horse racing or even having a bet for that matter. I was football mad, as was my dad, but I did like to play cards for money with my mates – my dad did with his pals as well.
“Brummy Paul” explained all the details of the information in the race card to the group of fresh-faced lads that had been assembled from all corners of the country. The sectionals, the finishing times, the racecard comments, the styles of running, the trap draws were all explained as if it was an out of college lesson. I was intrigued, it was like you were being set a task or conundrum with all this information for the 6 dogs in front of you in a colourful glossy program and I always loved a challenge!
I watched a few races and loved the atmosphere, the lights and going up to the bookmakers and having a £1 bet and given back a coloured cardboard ticket in return. We had a few beers – 50p a pint back then – and there was a sense of camaraderie and togetherness in the group, with everyone trying to find the next winner.
A Proper Punt...
The night was fun, but it was about to get better. Brummy Paul told us that he fancied a dog in race 8. He told us he had been to Romford last week on his own and thought the dog was unlucky not win after missing his break and finding trouble and still running well to finish third. He told us he was drawn better tonight and we should all bet him. He said, “Come on lads, all put your money in and I will put the bet on in one hit”.
We all looked at each wondering how much to put on, some lads were betting 50p on the tote all night. I gave him two pounds, and he looked at me, almost disapprovingly, and said, “You need to have more on than that”. I’m sure I went into a hot flush as handed him a crisp five-pound note! I thought to myself, that was my petrol money for the week! All the other lads followed in with their fivers and Paul had £20 on making it up to £70 in total.
The odds were 11/10 and the dog pinged out of the boxes and led all the way with all the group of lads cheering him on for 25 seconds !! A £5.50 profit – that was 11 beer tokens in my student world. In a nutshell, from that moment onwards, I was hooked on greyhound racing.
A Rocket is not always a 🚀...
Two years later, along with a couple of lads from Fords and now a Romford regular, I bought my first greyhound. His name was Hollow Rocket and he didn’t get off to the best of starts in his career at Romford, so much so, my pals at the track used to call him “Hollow Legs”!!! He had about 8 races and never won. He just wasn’t suited to the contours of Romford, but I learned so much about ownership and the world of greyhound racing, all due to owning him. You just can’t buy experience.
I have owned many greyhounds over the years and had great success along the way. Like in any sport, there are highs and there are lows, and you must make sure that you enjoy the wins. In my opinion, owning a greyhound is much more enjoyable in a group. Syndicates also offer a cheaper way to get involved in ownership.
"We were asked fairly early on if we could turn our hand to dog racing...we assembled our experts and the PV Kennel was formed!"
Greyhound Ownership PV Style...
So, in January last year when the Pompey Ventures lads asked me to source them a dog for their first taste of greyhound ownership I jumped at the chance. I always clock sectional times myself using a stopwatch, which I feel is a good tool to help gauge early pace and, also, run home times and clockings after the line to assess stamina.
I went to the Greyhound Trader Sales at Romford, a track close to my heart and where it all began for me. I spotted an unraced puppy in the very first trial. He recorded the fastest time of the day, but crucially in my eyes – or more specifically my stopwatch – he was fastest to the third bend. I always think that its best to be out in front at Romford and this youngster was top of my list of prospective candidates to purchase.
It is notoriously slow to get going with the bidding in the early stages of an auction and getting a handle on the values of greyhounds is subjective. I thought that if I could buy this pup for under £5000, then we would have reasonable value as an unraced youngster clocking 24.54 in his first look at the circuit and open to plenty of improvement. He was Lot number 1 and the bidding got going and I bid up to £3600, but the auctioneer said “Take him down – not sold. The reserve is £5000” I sought out the vendor and we did a deal at £4200, which with sales commission comes to £4410 and well under what I valued him.
Owen and Zach, who together run the Pompey Ventures syndicate assembled a package and shares were quickly snapped up, including me. One of the great aspects of a syndicate is the WhatsApp group chat and the laughs and banter that goes with it!
The pup was named “Fratton Bark”, which was genius marketing with the Portsmouth Pompey connotations. The dog was given to Gemma Evans to train and she gave him his kennel name “Bob”.
The superstar that is Fratton Bark...
Bob ran in his first race on Saturday 16th March, which just happens to be my birthday. He ran in A4 grade for his debut wearing the blue jacket of trap 2. He showed his early pace to lead at the first bend and then the cheers of the PV supporters went up. I thought it was all over, but then down the back straight he hesitated and changed his stride. In his inexperience, he thought the race was over a circuit too soon, but he quickly regained his momentum and the lead and went on to win. First race, first win for Fratton Bark and Pompey Ventures. What a thrill and the perfect birthday treat!
Bob then won his next race an A2 grade. He then won the Semi-Final AND Final of a Friday night Romford Maiden competition collecting £800 prize money in the process and building up a following of friends and family of syndicate members. The celebrations and buzz after that fourth win at Romford were amazing. Now all the chat in the WhatsApp group was about Bob for the Derby !!! I wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t stay the 500m Derby trip at Towcester, but I am only one of 11 syndicate members and the thought process of our group was that there is only one Derby! Bob trialled at Towcester next but, despite the 29.56 time being respectable, it was clear that he didn’t stay the demanding 500m trip. Derby Dream over.
So, now what? The next target was a Category 2 competition over 415m at Harlow, a less demanding trip than Towcester. Harlow is a tricky track to run, so we gave Bob 2 trials with the thoughts of giving him every chance to get accustomed to the contours of the track. That preparation paid off, as he showed excellent track craft to extricate himself from a precarious position at the initial turn in his qualifying heat and race clear down the back straight. He won his heat in style. Wow! Five out of five. We have a great photo of 5 of us all holding up our hands with 5 fingers showing Bob’s incredible achievement, with Bob sporting his favourite blue jacket. The following week he duly won the final and collected the handsome £2500 first prize.
An incredible start to the career of an amazing greyhound with a recognisable name for his Pompey Ventures owners!
And just like that, Pompey Ventures Greyhound Ownership Syndicates were up and running!
"One of the great aspects of a syndicate is the WhatsApp group chat and the laughs and banter that goes with it. In my opinion, owning a greyhound is much more enjoyable in a group!"
Paul Lawrence has so far purchased 4 dogs for us, two of which were open race & multiple A1 winners, including the superstar that is Fratton Bark - who incredibly won his first SIX races back to back! His most recent purchase with Pompey Ventures is Turnthemagicon, who, after placing 3rd in an Irish puppy competition and earning his owners 2,000 euro prize money on only is 2nd start, is looking like a VERY exciting prospect!