Fund raiser Dave "Branching Out" with raffle prize Puppy
Greyhound charity fundraiser and Greyhound Syndicate owner Dave Branch may have plenty to look forward to in the coming months, as a Coursing Puppy, which was won as part of a charity raffle prize which was being held in memory of Pat Curtin, has been Track schooled and has now joined Hove trainer Seamus Cahill.
Fund raiser Dave "Branching Out" with raffle prize Puppy
Greyhound charity fundraiser and greyhound syndicate owner Dave Branch may have plenty to look forward to in the coming months, as a coursing puppy, which was won as part of a charity raffle prize which was being held in memory of Pat Curtin, has been track schooled and has now joined Hove trainer Seamus Cahill.
Branch explains "After seeing an advertisement for a family fundraiser in memory of the late Pat Curtin, I suggested to a group of friends that we each contribute £20 to purchase tickets. The tickets cost €50 each, offering a chance to win one of several pups offered as prizes. We managed to secure six tickets for the draw"
"On February 25, 2024, I received a message from Sharon Sexton informing me that the draw had taken place at the Irish Cup Coursing, and my name had been drawn for a pup. To our delight, we had won a coursing pup named Be Media Smart, bred and reared by Brendan Matthews".
"Some members of our syndicate decided coursing wasn’t for them and sold their shares for the £20 they had contributed. The rest of us chose to embrace the adventure and see where it would lead. We proposed a name change for the pup, settling on Curtin Raiser—a fitting tribute given we won him through the Pat Curtin Family Fundraiser".
"We also needed a syndicate name and chose The Branching Out Syndicate, a nod to my surname, Branch, and our venture into coursing. As the Matthews family lacked the space to train Charlie (our nickname for Curtin Raiser), one of our syndicate members, Teresa Cahill, recommended David Flanagan as a trainer"
Branch continued "We moved Charlie to David’s care to prepare him for the upcoming coursing season. His debut at Freshford in late October was a learning experience, as he was very green and suffered a heavy defeat. David reassured us that Charlie had more potential than his performance suggested".
"At Kilsheelan, Charlie ran as a reserve but was knocked out in the first round again. On November 18, David messaged us to say Charlie would race on Friday and needed to show significant improvement. Since none of us live in Ireland, we relied on David’s updates to follow Charlie’s progress"
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" To our amazement, Charlie won both his first- and second-round races, advancing us to the second day of the event. The syndicate was thrilled! On Sunday, he triumphed in the quarter-final and semi-final, securing a spot in the final. Despite his incredible run, Charlie finished second, beaten by two lengths, and earned €450. After such early exits in his first two stakes, reaching the final was beyond our expectations.
Charlie competed in several more stakes that season but often faced the eventual winner in early rounds".
"When the coursing season ended, we decided to try him on the track. David Flanagan schooled Charlie for track racing, and he recorded a 17.28 sprint and a 30.20 over 525 yards at Clonmel".
"David believed Charlie could excel in the UK, so we planned to race him in Ireland a couple of times before transferring him to Seamus Cahill. In his track debut, Charlie was slow off the mark but rallied to finish third, beaten by 2½ lengths. A few weeks later, he returned to Clonmel and delivered an astonishing performance, winning by 12 lengths".
"After a stronger start, he showed incredible pace to the bend and pulled away effortlessly. The WhatsApp group erupted with excitement as we celebrated his victory. Charlie is now with Seamus and Teresa Cahill and will soon trial at Hove. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has played a part in Charlie’s remarkable journey so far".
Curtin Raiser actually took part in his first trial at Hove on Wednesday, and there looks to be plenty more to come in the coming weeks
Branch also made a donation of £772 to Home Run Hounds Greyhound Charity on Tuesday as part of the £30 entry fee into his popular Greyhound Derby Tipping competition. 80% of the entry fee has gone towards prize money with the remaining 20% set aside for the charity and having raised £3,658 for charities from entry fees in 2024, Branch is well on the way to beating that total this year.
