October'07 - Greyhounds Queensland

By DAVID BRASCHGRAHAM Moscow has been goinggreyhound racing since he was five, back inEngland, to the flapping tracks with hisbookmaker dad Lew and mum Gladys.He and his soccer teammates went racingas often as they could when in their teens.He completed a greyhound trainer’scourse in 1989 while living in Adelaide andloved it.He has bred a number of litters withsuccess.But only in the past year, at the age of 52,has he started training himself … and he’sloving every minute of it.That dog is Zay Mocco (Bitability Bale-Bourbon Dancer) an $800 Ipswich Auctionbuy and winner of the Grafton JacarandaMaiden and 10 races in all.Graham, however, has lived a life moreon the go than most, spending working stintsin Australia, Fiji and China all of which haverestricted his greyhound training hopes.Lew Moscow, Graham’s father, ran hisown betting shop in London’s East End wherethe family lived.“My dad loved greyhound racing so much,that when the races had finished and he closedthe betting shop, he would load mum and meinto the car and head to the flapping track atRaleigh near Essex where he had a bookiesstand,” said Graham.“I was 10 at the time.”It was Lew who got his son-in-law JeffDroy interested in greyhound training. Lewraced a number of dogs around Harringay atthe time and all the time it instilled in his sonGraham a love of the chase.Lew died in 1966. Jeff Droy and Graham’ssister Linda had moved to Australia in 1965.Graham’s mum Gladys is 92 and still lives inthe family home in London’s East End.When Graham Moscow was 23, hebrought his family to Australia. “My in-lawslived in Adelaide and they had organised workfor me,” he said.A tailor by trade, Graham got intomanufacturing in 1978 in Adelaide and by1985 had his own factory supplying DavidJones, Jeans West etc. When the stock marketcrash soon after closed his business, Grahammoved to Brisbane in 1992.There he worked as a manager at Bisleyand Pike which produced 3.2 millionenvelopes a day at Rocklea.By 1995, the rag trade called again andhe headed to Fiji to open another factory. “Thebusiness was huge and for seven years we had300 staff and produced a million garments ayear for Target, Coles, K-Mart, Levis, Speedoetc,” he said. “Then came the military coupin Fiji …”The coup was never going to be a goodthing for businesses run by ex-pat Poms.“I held on for another year but eventuallywe paid out the staff and closed up,” he said.“The ACTU put a ban on all goods going intoand coming out of Fiji. We couldn’t getmaterial out of Australia, or send completedgoods into Australia.”That was May 2000. He was back inAustralia in 2001, working a number of jobs,including one for Elite State’s owner JimOsborn.A two year stint in China followed.“Then I was ready for a break, so I camehome in 2005 and worked for a while as aunder-14 zonal development soccer coach inSouth-west Queensland,” he said.All this time he was breeding a few littersof greyhounds and keeping his hand in as anowner.He had some success specially with a bitchcalled Glasgow Doll who Tom Tzouvelis tookto wins at Albion Park, Tweed, the Gold Coastand Ipswich.CredibilityBearabilityKissy BearBitability BaleGrove Whisper*Jindara BaleStar LeeZAY MOCCONew TearsUltimate WishLauren’s DesireBourbon DancerAmerigo ManBourbon QueenBourbon’s IrishThen in October 2005 he headed off tothe Ipswich Auction and paid $800 for theBitability Bale-Bourbon Dancer dog hewould name Zay Mocco. “I remembered hisgranddam Bourbon Queen winning in Sydneyso that’s why I bought him,” said Graham.The dog was named after his grandsonLeaders forthe past 16years in theCollection,Storage andInseminationof FrozenSemen totheGreyhoundRacingIndustryManly Road VetPhone(07) 33969733Zaylan Moscow. Graham’s wife Lesleyexplained that when now three-year-oldZaylan was starting to talk, he would callhimself “Zay Mocco” … the greyhound founda name.“I sent the dog to Jeff Droy at Graftonwhen he was 12 months old and he broke himin with great reports,” he said. “He was secondin the Grafton Carnival Maiden heat and inthe Consolation but was bitten by a redbackspider a week later.”The dog recovered and at his fourth start,gaining a start as a reserve, he won theJacaranda Maiden by almost 10 lengths.Graham got him home the following weekand started training Zay Mocco himself.“Jeff had given me a bitch called HowGood’s This but she didn’t live up to her name,New ServicesNow OfferedFREE RETURN ** Phone for DetailsNON SURGICALINSEMINATION(TCI - no anaesthetic)Graham's beenGrahamMoscow andsmart sprinterZay Mocco.hooked ongreyhounds fora lifetimeH ospitalnot winning a maiden and eventually fighting.Zay Mocco is the second dog I’ve trained,”he said.In 1989 he attended an eight-week, twicea week trainer’s course. “We were stressedthat greyhound training was KFC …keenness, fitness and cleanliness and thatthere was 1001 variations to training agreyhound,” he said.Graham reckons Zay Mocco, a GoldCoast track specialist, is a dream to train. “Heloves racing, loves the Gold Coast, has onecall up between races and is hardly ever sore.”As a youngster, Graham Moscow and hismates from soccer often went greyhoundracing around the London racetracks. Therehe witnessed some of the great moments inthe industry in that country.“I saw Patricia’s Hope win successiveEnglish Derbies, the best greyhound I haveseen race,” he said. “And I saw that fantasticclash between Delores Rocket and SupremeFun in a Cesarewitch, dogs like Silver Hopeetc so many of them household names at homein England and also in Australia.”He says Australian greyhounds are thebest in the world, and our trainers second tonone. “The biggest difference betweenEnglish and Australian racing is the six-dogoutside hare as opposed to the eight-doginside hare,” he said. “But this factor makesthe Australian racing much more competitive.“And breeders in Australia have taken thegreyhound to another level.”Lesley Moscow has been married toGraham for 16 years. She admits she takessecond rank at their Fernvale home to thegreyhound Zay Mocco. “It’s a love affairbetween Graham and that dog,” she jokes.Frozen SemenPackageincludes*All progesterone testing* Surgical implant* Boarding* Regular client updates$545Contact Kelly Irving on(07) 39066917Christine Kidd (Veterinarian) - Kelly Irving (Reproduction Technician)219 ManlyRdManlyWestBrisbaneThe (October, 2007) Journal Page 15