'A special moment' - mother and son do battle at Monmore
Rare race to take place as parent and pup hit the track together.
Monmore Green Greyhound Stadium was playing host to a rare event today with mother and son due to run in the same race.
Aero Sizzler, trained by Richie Taberner and owned by the Aero Racing Syndicate, was going up against one of her three pups also currently on the racing strength, Aero Storm at 12.42pm this afternoon in an A7 graded race.
It is believed there has been parent and pup racing together at the long-standing Wolverhampton track previously, but it is certainly not a regular occurrence - although it could feasibly happen again in the coming weeks as January 2025 littermates Aero Sally and Aero Sonny also compete at similar grades as November 2021 bitch Aero Sizzler.
Aero Sizzler was running from trap two in today’s race while Storm was in the five box.
“Aero Sizzler is only lightly raced, she came into season early in her career and we decided to breed from her,” said Taberner. “She’s fit and healthy, enjoys her racing, so she came back onto the track after having the pups. They were born in January 2025 and then she returned to racing in October.
“Aero Sonny, Sally and Storm have all started out their careers over the past couple of months, with Storm and Sonny both winning races already.
“It’ll be very interesting to see how the race goes and whether either mother or son can win it.
“It’s not something that happens often – we’ve not had it in our kennel before. It’ll be a special moment seeing them race each other.”
Taberner was also pleased on Thursday as he moved up to second in the home league of the ongoing Monmore Open Championship, with Ragdoll Rosie, Holding Hollie and Droopys Maximus all getting wins under their belt.
The Wombourne-based handler is now narrowly ahead of Nathan Hunt – who had Sams Magic and Whyaye Mister register victories – in the standings, with Kim Billingham-Hine having a sizeable lead at the top.
Away league leader Kevin Hutton (Towcester) had Kranky Drake win a 630m race by a huge margin, in a time of 37.79secs.
Mark Wallis (unattached) remains second in the away league and Esther Driver (Nottingham) third.
The top three in each league will claim £2,500, £1,000 and £500 respectively when the competition ends on Thursday June 11.
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