Pablo The Pup finds success in fundraising and racing

A fifth Derby campaign for the fundraising Pablo The Pup

Those who follow the Pablo The Pup X account will have been treated to the behind the scenes of his life since he was born in March 2021. He has made his mark both in race action (22 times a race winner) and also as a shining beacon of why greyhounds make such great pets. Even when he was only a few months old, he was already winning over the hearts of the public.

His trainer Heather Dimmock told us a bit about his early life as a true home bred. "We had both his sire and dam. His mum was an early paced bitch with good breeding. She retired early through injury and his dad won us the Northern Puppy Derby so we thought why not give it a go! There were only three in the litter which were born via caesarean."

Pablo was happy to be the centre of attention from the start. It was this personality that generated the idea of following him as he grew up. "It was Gail’s (May) idea to document the life of a pup via X. As it so happened, we had a litter at the time so Pablo was the chosen one. From the first few days he always loved to be around people.

"Obviously Gail has been a huge part of his upbringing and socialising along with our kennelhand Kiera who has always been on hand to give him cuddles and lots of fuss.

"He gets his good nature from his dad, he had a super temperament, and his mum was lazy and he does take after her when it comes to exercise." That laid back attitude made him the perfect puppy to go out and meet the public.

"He was around three months old when he attended his first Derby. It was again Gail’s idea to showcase a greyhound puppy along with raising money for retired greyhounds. He’s loved every minute of it ever since, with this year being his fifth, as well as some other days in between. He just loves the fuss and attention he gets and he loves to give people the biggest hugs even if they don’t want one!

"I believe he’s raised thousands of pounds for numerous rehoming charities helping them to enrich the lives and promotion of the hounds waiting to find homes which is so important for them but also for racing as a whole."

Things didn't always go to plan in the early days of his racing career though. "He didn’t have the best of starts when breaking his metacarpal whilst schooling so to win his on his debut was pretty special but then he hurt his shoulder in his second race. Time is a great healer and we didn’t rush him back which could be why he’s still going strong now."

One thing that connections have noticed is his propensity to win his next race after a fundraising venture. "I couldn’t tell you how many times he’s won after his ‘charity work’ but it’s quite a few times now, I think he enjoys the change of scenery." He did it again earlier on this week when landing a D1 contest after being at the track fundraising last weekend. As far as punting angles go, it's an obscure one but it's worked on a number of occasions to this point! 

Look out for Pablo at Towcester throughout the remainder of the Derby!